Patrice WUSCHER, Romana BLASER, Cécilia CAMMAS, Juliette DURAND,  Steve GLISONI, Emmanuelle SARON, Jean-François PASTRE PLATEAU, SILT AND HUMANS: Our Knowledge and Questions on Tardiglacial and Holocene Soils and Erosion in Île-de-France

Abstract

The pedogenesis as well as the tardiglacial and holocene geomorphological processes on plateaux are little studied even though they cover a large part of the Île-de-France region. The ground’s properties, its modification, its evolution and its erosion are however important aspects of the interaction of people with their environment. An inventory of available literature about the northern plateaux of France has been compared to the results of two archaeological evaluations on the Beauce and the Brie plateaux. This work has led to the definition of three research axes. The first is a geomorphological map of the region. The second involves an estimation of the speed of soil formation and its date using stratigraphy from the two archaeological sites and colluvion deposits. The final axe includes observation of the impact of people on their environment measured by site density, quantifying erosion and using the geoarchaeological reading of the agricultural structures.

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