We are pleased to announce the third presentation in our 2025-2026 seminar series: “Herds Across Mountains: Long-Term Pastoral Practices in the Western Alps”
We are especially delighted to welcome Juliette Knockaert, Research Engineer CNRS, ArchAM, UMR 8096 CNRS/ Université Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne. The presentation will take place on Friday, June 5, at 12 p.m. (CET) and will be online.
Access the webinar here: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/311642436707163?p=4oOa736Vs5p2S7SUBY
there is no need to register!
Abstract: This presentation offers an overview of more than six millennia of pastoral practices in the Western Alps and the Provençal lowlands through the interdisciplinary research programme PATHWAY (A*MIDEX-France / AHRC-UK). Drawing on a multi-proxy and interdisciplinary approach combining history, archaeology, bioarchaeology, it investigates herd management, the exploitation of alpine pastures and forest environments, and landscape transformations from the Early Neolithic to the Late Middle Ages.
Results show a large diversity of pastoral strategies, including seasonal vertical mobility toward alpine pastures, the circulation of non-local animals, and the long-term exploitation of forest resources from at least the Middle Neolithic onward. Finally, the identification of autumn lambing practices extending into alpine valleys illustrates the diffusion of this reproductive pattern beyond the strictly Mediterranean sphere. Overall, these results highlight the flexibility, adaptability, and complexity of ancient pastoral systems in the Western Alps.
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