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L’originalité analytique du projet réside dans la reconnaissance d’un problème de lisibilité de la palmeraie : difficulté à lire l’idée d’une palmeraie faisant figure d’abondance et de verdure en plein cœur du désert, bulle de fraîcheur dans l’aride horizontalité. C’est que, le plus souvent, le visiteur est confronté à un espace mal défini composé de palmiers isolés ou d’îlots de palmiers situés ici et là, seuls témoins d’un passé plus glorieux. C’est cette idée de palmeraie, dont le nom renv...

Premier titre de la collection « Architecture de paysage » rassemblant, sur une base annuelle, des recueils issus chacun des enseignements internationaux (Workshop_Atelier/terrain) menés par la Chaire UNESCO en paysage et environnement (CUPEUM) en collaboration avec les programme MOST (Management of Social Transformations), MAB (Man and Biosphere) et WHC (World Heritage Center) de l’UNESCO. Cette collection est dirigée par Philippe Poullaouec-Gonidec, fondateur et titulaire de la seule chaire UNESCO œuvrant dans le domaine du paysage dans le monde. Cet ouvrage diffuse les résultats du Workshop_Atelier/terrain réalisé à Marrakech (Maroc) en novembre 2004. Vitrine privilégiée d’un « Observatoire international des paysages périphériques : villes et métropoles » initié par la CUPEUM, ces recueils constitueront des points singuliers de réflexion sur la question de l’aménagement de la périphérie des villes et des métropoles de la région méditerranéenne.

Work on thermal pools at Poggetti Vecchi in Grosseto, Italy, exposed an up to 3-meter-thick succession of seven sedimentary units. Unit 2 in the lower portion of the succession contained vertebrate bones, mostly of the straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, commingled with stone, bone, and wooden tools. Thermal carbonates overlying Unit 2 are radiometrically dated to the latter part of the middle Pleistocene. This time span indicates that early Neanderthals produced the human artifacts from Poggetti Vecchi. The elephant bones belong to seven individuals of different ages. Sedimentary facies analysis and paleoecological evidence suggest a narrow lacustrine-palustrine embayment affected by water-level fluctuations and, at times, by hydrothermal water. Cyclic lake-level variations were predominantly forced by the rapid climatic fluctuations that occurred at Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6–7 transition and throughout the MIS 6. Possibly an abrupt, intense, and protracted cold episode during the onset of MIS 6 led to the sudden death of the elephants, which formed an unexpected food resource for the humans of the area. The Poggetti Vecchi site adds new information on the behavioral plasticity and food procurement strategies that early Neanderthals were able to develop in Italy during the middle to the late Pleistocene transition.

International audience; Objects of this study are the wooden artifacts discovered in the archaeological excavation of Mephitis goddess sanctuary in the Ansanto Valley (Rocca San Felice e AV, Southern Italy). At the moment of discovery, in the mid of last century, woods were waterlogged and mineralized, and they were restored to allow their preservation. Purpose of this work was the wood identification, in order to gain information on some technological aspects, and the analysis of wood preservation state. Wood species were identified by means of magnifiers or optical and scanning electron microscopes, while the state of preservation was studied through microscopy and chemical analyses (FTIR-ATR, ash content and pH measurement). Four different taxa have been identified with certainty among all the findings: Quercus sp., Fagus sylvatica L., Rosaceae, Populus/Salix. It was not possible to identify the wood of all the findings, because some sampled fragments were too small or because of the deformation of wood tissues. The state of preservation showed a great variability over the analyzed findings. A general damage degree was observed, sometimes also macroscopically visible. The polarized light microscope and FTIRATR spectroscopy demonstrated the absence of cellulose in the analyzed samples. The wood cell wall was not detectable by means of SEM because it is completely covered by restoration material. Because of the lack of visibility, it was impossible to identify the type of biological damage occurred to the wood.