Récemment, l'archéologie sous-marine, de par sa forme unique de patrimoine culturel, a considérablement évolué, de telle sorte qu’elle en vient désormais à saisir des intérêts tangibles au-delà de ses disciplines très spécialisées. À... more
Récemment, l'archéologie sous-marine, de par sa forme unique de patrimoine culturel, a considérablement évolué, de telle sorte qu’elle en vient désormais à saisir des intérêts tangibles au-delà de ses disciplines très spécialisées. À mesure de sa maturation méthodologique et technologique, nous constatons que le domaine s’est de plus en plus caractérisé à travers les préoccupations juridiques et éthiques croissantes que soulève la protection de son patrimoine immergé. Le présent guide a pour but de familiariser l'archéologue terrestre à ce domaine académique pionnier, quelques fois encore empreint d’ésotérisme. Pour ce faire, notre étude dresse un aperçu des menaces, des mesures d'urgence, ainsi que de l'un de ses adages les plus prometteurs pour l'Archéologie au sens large : celui de ses modèles interprétatifs, comme le « Paysage culturel maritime » de C. Westerdahl.
It is only recently that Underwater Archaeology and its unique form of cultural heritage has grown to encompass more tangible interests from outside its very specialized disciplines. With the long time coming of its methodological and technological maturation, the field has been increasingly characterized by the growing legal and ethical concerns raised by the protection of its heritage. This introductory guide aims to familiarize the land-based archaeologist to this budding, if not still somewhat esoteric academic domain. In doing so, the discourse of this study seeks to grant some insight as to the threats, contingency measures, as well as some of its most promising adage for Archaeology as a whole: that of its interpretative models, such as C. Westerdahl’s “Maritime Cultural Landscape”.
"Although the megalithic phenomenon in southern Iberia has been studied since the mid-nineteenth century, little attention has been paid to the role that megalithic structures played in the organization of prehistoric landscapes. Just as... more
"Although the megalithic phenomenon in southern Iberia has been studied since the mid-nineteenth century, little attention has been paid to the role that megalithic structures played in the organization of prehistoric landscapes. Just as in other areas of Europe, however, southern Iberian megalithic structures must have played complex roles in the social organization of landscapes that go far beyond their use as funerary containers. Using examples from our work in southern Iberia, we employ GIS-based spatial analysis to explore for the first time various aspects of the landscape dimension of these monuments. We discuss three case-studies for which fresh field data have been recently made available. In the first (Almadén de la Plata) we find patterns of association between medieval transhumance routes and megaliths, and we use cost-surface modelling to suggest that medieval routes may reflect earlier, prehistoric patterns of movement which in turn suggest that megalithic structures functioned in this area as waypoints within an emerging mobility system for people and livestock. In the second case (Aroche) we show correlations between the locations of megaliths and theoretical territories defined by isochrones and contrast this pattern with the distribution of nonmegalithic funerary sites of the Early Bronze Age, concluding that the spatial distribution of megaliths in this region may relate to their role as landmarks. Lastly we describe a far more specific relationship which we have encountered in the Antequera region, where we believe we have identified a relationship between the orientation of the megalithic structure of Menga, a prominent natural feature and several newly discovered prehistoric sites. Together, these three examples suggest that the current focus on typology, chronology and contents in the study of Iberian megaliths needs to be matched with efforts to identify and interpret the often highly complex structure of the prehistoric landscapes of which they form an integral part."
