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Approvisionnement carné et équilibres agro-pastoraux : l'exemple des communautés lacustres du Néolithique final de Chalain "Station 3" (Jura, France)

Rose-Marie ARBOGAST & Pierre PÉTREQUIN

fr Anthropozoologica 25-26 - Pages 391-398

Published on 01 June 1998

This article is a part of the thematic issue Proceedings of the 7th ICAZ International Meeting, Constance, September 1994

Meat supply and agro-pastoral evolution in the French Late Neolithic: the case of two successive lake shore villages from Chalain (Jura, France)

The archaeozoological study of two successive Horgen culture village sites on the shore of lake Chalain (Jura, France) during the 32nd century B.C., is part of a general concern of the research on the occupation of lacustrian environments in the northwestem part of the Alps; the focal point of this research being to determine the interactions between the changes in population, technological systems, social organizations and environmental balance. This archaeozoological study reveals a system of meat supply marked by important successive reorientations reflecting upon a rapid adaptation and highly flexible food supply strategies. The interpretation of the variations of quantitative proportions of the principal meat sources, together with the osteometric features of the main species exploited do suggest, in connection with the extension of land clearing and the acceleration of population growth, a meat economy that seems marginal because of the growth of cereal production.


Keywords:

Neolithic, food supply, agricultural expansion, demographic growth, husbandry, hunting.

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