Description du projet
Des perspectives essentielles sur les communautés des sites palafittiques d’Europe centrale
Les colonies lacustres alpines, connues pour leurs objets en bois et autres objets organiques préservés, constituent d’importantes archives archéologiques de la préhistoire humaine. Il existe plus de 1 000 sites connus; parmi eux, 111 sont inscrits sur la liste du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO. Le projet ALPGEN, financé par l’UE, étudiera l’histoire de la population des établissements lacustres entre environ 5 000 et 500 avant notre ère. Plus précisément, le projet séquencera de l’ADN ancien et d’autres biomolécules provenant d’anciens «chewing-gum» retrouvés dans des colonies lacustres des Alpes et des environs. Cela nous permettra de mieux comprendre les interactions, la démographie et la culture des communautés alpines. Le projet apportera également de nouvelles informations sur la santé de ces peuples et la composition de leur microbiote buccal, entre autres choses.
Objectif
The prehistoric pile dwellings in and around the Alps constitute one of the most important archaeological archives of human prehistory. Dating from around 5000 to 500 BC, there are over 1000 known sites in the region, 111 of which are listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The sites are mainly located under water, on lake shores, along rivers, or in wetlands, offering exceptional conditions for the preservation of organic materials like wood, plant remains, animal bones, artefacts, and even textiles. Because of their exceptional preservation, the archaeological remains from those sites give us a unique window into the lives of prehistoric people and the development of early agrarian societies in Central Europe. However, despite the rich material evidence from the settlements, we know relatively little about the people who lived there. This is because there are no burials directly associated with the lake settlements, which has precluded the study of ancient DNA, for example. Luckily, there are other sources of ancient DNA, including ancient “chewing gums” which provide a rich of ancient human and host-associated microbial DNA as we recently demonstrated. In this project we will sequence ancient DNA and other biomolecules from ancient “chewing gums” found at lake settlements in and around the Alps to shed new light on the lives of the Alpine communities that settled there between 5000 and 500 BC. With access to over 300 specimens from archaeological sites north and south of the Alps, we have the unique opportunity to study their interactions and the demographic and cultural changes that characterised the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in Central Europe. In addition, the project promises to offer new insights into peoples’ health and the composition of their oral microbiome, as well as their diet and subsistence strategies. Together, the proposed research will provide us with a richer understanding of the pile-dwelling communities of Central Europe.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régime de financement
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Institution d’accueil
1165 Kobenhavn
Danemark