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At Ounjougou, a site complex situated in the Yamé River valley on the Bandiagara Plateau (Dogon country, Mali), multidisciplinary research has revealed a rich archaeological and paleoenvironmental sequence used to reconstruct the history of human-environment interactions, especially during the Late Holocene (3500–300 cal BC). Geomorphological, archaeological, and archaeobotanical data coming from different sites and contexts were combined in order to elaborate a chronocultural and environmental model for this period. Bayesian analysis of 54 14C dates included within the general Late Holocene stratigraphy of Ounjougou provides better accuracy for limits of the main chronological units, as well as for some particularly important events, like the onset of agriculture in the region. The scenario that can be proposed in the current state of research shows an increasing role of anthropogenic fires from the 3rd millennium cal BC onwards, and the appearance of food production during the 2nd millennium cal BC, coupled with a distinctive cultural break. The Late Holocene sequence ends around 300 cal BC with an important sedimentary hiatus that lasts until the end of the 4th century cal AD.

This essay examines the geographic origins, the political belongings and the confessional profiles of the members of the two most important mercantile nations of eighteenth-century southern Italy: the French nation and the British factory of Naples. Taking into account their pronounced prosopographic heterogeneity, it shows how legal resources and their social uses played a crucial role in defining the boundaries of such groups. International audience

The Saint-Blaise/Bains des Dames stratified site in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, contains several occupations that span the Late through Final Neolithic, including the Horgen, Lüscherz, and Auvernier-Cordé periods. As part of a study on prehistoric metallurgy in western Switzerland, we compare the lead isotope ratios (multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer) and elemental compositions (instrumental neutron activation analysis) of the site's numerous copper finds to a database of corresponding measurements for copper ores throughout Europe. The results show a considerable variation in copper compositions present at the site, suggesting complex economic relationships and multiple chaînes opératoires during the time in question. Specifically, during the Final Neolithic, we distinguished ten coherent clusters, confirmed by both the elemental compositions and lead isotope ratios. When compared to the Europe-wide database of copper ores, we observed significant changes in the provenance of the copper through time that reflect equally significant changes in social, cultural, and economic interactions.

International audience; L’utilisation de la visualisation de données en histoire engendre des réactions contradictoires : alors que certains sont fascinés par son potentiel heuristique à en oublier leur sens critique, d’autres rejettent par principe ces pratiques, les suspectant de cacher un vide explicatif.Cet article introduit la distinction entre visualisation de démonstration et visualisation de recherche, rappelant que le chercheur ne doit pas uniquement utiliser la visualisation comme moyen de communication, mais également pour nourrir la recherche elle-même. C’est particulièrement dans sa forme la plus complexe, l’analyse de réseau, que cette catégorie de visualisations de recherche va être discutée.

Despite the important role of the Central Andes (15–30° S) for climate reconstruction, knowledge about the Quaternary glaciation is very limited due to the scarcity of organic material for radiocarbon dating. We applied 10Be surface exposure dating (SED) on 22 boulders from moraines in the Cordon de Doña Rosa, Northern/Central Chile (~31° S). The results show that several glacial advances in the southern Central Andes occurred during the Late Glacial between ~14.7±1.5 and 11.6±1.2 ka. A much more extensive glaciation is dated to ~32±3 ka, predating the temperature minimum of the global LGM (Last Glacial Maximum: ~20 ka). Reviewing these results in the paleoclimatic context, we conclude that the Late Glacial advances were most likely caused by an intensification of the tropical circulation and a corresponding increase in summer precipitation. High-latitude temperatures minima, e.g. the Younger Dryas (YD) and the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR) may have triggered individual advances, but current systematic exposure age uncertainties limit precise correlations. The absence of LGM moraines indicates that moisture advection was too limited to allow significant glacial advances at ~20 ka. The tropical circulation was less intensive despite the maximum in austral summer insolation. Winter precipitation was apparently also insufficient, although pollen and marine studies indicate a northward shift of the westerlies at that time. The dominant pre-LGM glacial advances in Northern/Central Chile at ~32 ka required lower temperatures and increased precipitation than today. We conclude that the westerlies were more intense and/or shifted equatorward, possibly due to increased snow and ice cover at higher southern latitudes coinciding with a minimum of insolation. Climate of the Past, 3 (1) ISSN:1814-9332 ISSN:1814-9324

This study is based on zircon U-Pb ages of 12 volcanic ash layers and volcanogenic sandstones from two deep water sections with conformable and continuous formational Permian–Triassic boundaries (PTBs) in the Nanpanjiang Basin (South China). Our dates of single, thermally annealed and chemically abraded zircons bracket the PTB in Dongpan and Penglaitan and provide the basis for a first proof-of-concept study utilizing a Bayesian chronology model comparing the three sections of Dongpan, Penglaitan and the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) at Meishan. Our Bayesian modeling demonstrates that the formational boundaries in Dongpan (251.939±0.030Ma), Penglaitan (251.984±0.031Ma) and Meishan (251.956±0.035Ma) are synchronous within analytical uncertainty of ∼ 40ka. It also provides quantitative evidence that the ages of the paleontologically defined boundaries, based on conodont unitary association zones in Meishan and on macrofaunas in Dongpan, are identical and coincide with the age of the formational boundaries. The age model also confirms the extreme condensation around the PTB in Meishan, which distorts the projection of any stratigraphic points or intervals onto other more expanded sections by means of Bayesian age–depth models. Dongpan and Penglaitan possess significantly higher sediment accumulation rates and thus offer a greater potential for high-resolution studies of environmental proxies and correlations around the PTB than Meishan. This study highlights the power of high-resolution radio-isotopic ages that allow a robust intercalibration of patterns of biotic changes and fluctuating environmental proxies and will help recognizing their global, regional or local significance. International audience