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Dental microwear is a common and wellestablished technique which allows the short-term reconstruction of the dietary behaviour in extinct and extant vertebrates, allowing inferences about daily, seasonal, or regional variations in diets. However, the use of this method may be limited because taphonomic processes can affect enamel surfaces and modify or obliterate dietary microwear features. Considering the substantial number of agents which can impact the archaeological record, dental microwear alteration processes are poorly known, producing a potential bias in dietary interpretations. In this study, the effect of trampling on dental occlusal surfaces, one of the most common processes recorded in archaeological assemblages, has been experimentally investigated for the first time. The results allowed us to (1) distinguish taphonomic and dietary marks; (2) assess the impacts of trampling on occlusal surfaces; and (3) infer the agents which modified the dental microwear from the teeth obtained from the archaeological sites. The importance of this work lies in the specific guidelines it offers to discriminate trampling marks from microwear features, improving the reliability of dietary interpretations.

The Sant Genis Formation is located in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula (Catalonia, Spain) and is dated to the Priabonian (upper Eocene), being part of the evaporitic formations of the margin of the Ebro Basin. It is formed by a succession of sandy lutites, occasional limestone layers, marls, and local stratified gypsum and cherts, including the Sant Marti de Tous chert. The Sant Marti de Tous chert type is confirmed by its abundance at specific locations within the territory (NE Iberian Peninsula). This is an important raw material procurement area, as evidenced by the presence of this chert in the main prehistoric sites of the region (e.g., Abric Romani) and the constant discovery of new sites in the area around the Sant Genis Formation, especially from the Neolithic period onwards (e.g., Cal Sitjo, La Guinardera Nord workshop). All these features, together with the great heterogeneity of the Cenozoic evaporitic cherts, prompted us to carry out a multi-proxy characterization for obtaining a valid criterion by which to identify this chert in the archaeological record. This very heterogeneity hampers the macroscopic characterization of archaeological cherts (e.g., at Abric Romani), but through petrographic analysis we have been able to identify their origins and, albeit to a lesser extent, their lithostratigraphic unit of provenance within the formation. The complementary mineralogical and geochemical techniques applied in this study show that, although it is difficult to establish an exact origin, through intensive sampling and criteria such as the differential presence of Fe and Ca, some differences among the siliceous varieties within a formation can be detected. CLT009/22/000044; PID2019-103987 GB-C3; PID2021-123092NB-C21; PID2019-105796 GB-I00; GV/2021/054; CEX2019-000945-M info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Dans le cadre d’un programme d’identification des sculptures en albâtres du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance en France, une dizaine d’œuvres a ete etudiee dans un triangle compris entre Perpignan, Toulouse et Narbonne. Les analyses mineralogiques et isotopiques (S, O, Sr) montrent que ces œuvres gothiques des xive et xve siecles ont ete realisees avec un albâtre gypseux d’une provenance unique, extrait en Catalogne sud, sur la commune de Beuda pres de Gerone. Cet albâtre, qui etait tres apprecie des le debut du xive siecle en Catalogne puis dans toute la Couronne d’Aragon, s’est diffuse progressivement dans une grande partie de la peninsule Iberique. Il a eu aussi les faveurs des sculpteurs au nord des Pyrenees dans les differents territoires qui vont former a partir du milieu du xive siecle le Languedoc royal rattache au royaume de France. Alors qu’a la meme epoque des albâtres d’autres provenances (Angleterre, Alpes…) etaient utilises en Aquitaine ou en Provence voisines, l’albâtre de Beuda apparait clairement comme un marqueur de ces sculptures gothiques liees a l’emergence d’une production artistique specifique en France meridionale.