Archéologie des versants du Petit-Saint-Bernard : première approche de la dynamique de l'occupation humaine autour d'un grand passage alpin, de la Préhistoire au début du Moyen Âge

Abstract

The Petit-Saint-Bernard mountain pass connects the valley of Tarentaise to the Val d'Aoste and is one of the main transalpine pass at the South of the Mont-Blanc. Begun in 2003 within the context of the Interreg program "Alpis Graia", campaigns of archaeological surveys are in progress on the two sides of the pass. The objectives of this work are to develop the knowledge of the mountain's first populating, to enrich the incomplete documentation of the chronological and cultural regional frame, and to document the dynamics of transalpine circulations. The method of intervention is based on the realization of large series of manual surveys in sectors favourable to the slow sedimentary accumulation. The zone of study covers all the height of hillsides to approach the vertical variability of the modalities of occupation and exploitation of the natural environment. This contribution uses the archaeological data from 2003 till 2006 which document the period from the Neolithic to the high Middle Ages. The chronological and vertical fluctuations that we observe in this sampling are presented in detail. The representativeness of the collected data is discussed. In spite of the weaknesses and the fragilities of the considered corpus, it shows a rather good coherence with the data from other valleys of the western and central Alps better documented. This report confirms the efficiency of the used method and allows to consider the collected data as a first approach of the dynamics of the populating of an Alpine micro-region.

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