The questions raised by man-environment relationships through time and space can be explored by a variety of archaeological, ethnographic or environmental approaches. In archaeological sites, charcoal remains are an excellent marker of the environments frequented by man and of the plant formations that developed in these areas. As a residue of fire-wood selected and transported by man, charcoal also reflects techniques of forest management.
Nevertheless, anthracological studies are most often limited to identification of a list of species and their relative frequency, without any use being made of the potential information contained in tree-rings. In doing so, these studies leave aside a wide range of applications relating to dendrology and dendroecology, involving both environmental and social sciences. Consequently, even the reconstruction from archaeological charcoal of the morphological characteristics of exploited wood (size, age, shape) still poses methodological problems. Yet this evidence is essential for examining modes of selection of wood for heating, for studying environmental, population parameters, as well as for measuring the impact of human populations on the forest.

The principal objective of the project is to reconstruct the dendrometric characteristics of the tree and/or forest stand exploited, through the study of the anthracological assemblage. To achieve this goal, we are developing analytic protocols that combine tools from quantitative anatomy, geometric morphology, dendroecology, and isotopic study to highlight the discriminating anatomical criteria necessary for the identification of the organ of the tree, its age, and its physiognomy. These protocols aim to be compatible with routine use and are intended for archaeological wood charcoal whose size is not adequate for the application of traditional dendrochronological methods. Developed through the study of modern forested stands, our intention is to apply these protocols to anthracological assemblages that have been experimentally produced from these same forest populations. Because our principal objective is to be able to reliably quantify data related to simple parameters (such as the wood’s diameter and ring-widths), the testing is carried out under rigorously reproducible atmospheric conditions.

By developing this pioneer approach, the project seeks to increase the discipline’s informative potential concerning for example the modalities management of the forest space or the human and climatic impact on the environment.
The production of such referential is a decisive methodological advance for charcoal analysis ; these reference data will be dedicated to be diffused and completed (centralization, storage, durability and accessibility of data).
The last phase will develop more specific models. The objective is to improve the tools in relation to specific research issues, then to test, adapt and validate them in an archaeological context.