Field patterns and land use dynamic over time – PARCEDES

PARCEDES aims to study the organisation and evolution of agrarian plots of land [“parcellaires” in French] from Protohistory to the present day, based on four French, Italian and English sites. The aim is to (i) identify and, if necessary, characterise the possible links between these changes and societal and/or geographical parameters, and (ii) propose a model of the observable phenomena of the resilience of field boundaries in the long term. Based on the advances of French archaeogeography, which evaluates the part of transformations and transmissions that affect the forms of landscapes, PARCEDES is an original project because it wishes to remove 3 scientific and methodological obstacles: (i) to solve the problem of the great dispersion and heterogeneity of the available data by starting from the morphological analysis of 19th-20th century plots visible on maps, cadastres and aerial photographs, and by building an exhaustive database of plot ditches found in excavations and preventive archaeological evaluations [“diagnostics”]; (ii) to go beyond local studies closed in on themselves by a comparative approach and a harmonised methodology; (iii) to improve our knowledge of terraced agrarian structures by dating 10 of them in Devon thanks to an innovative archaeometric method (OSL-Profiling & Dating). Finally, PARCEDES will endeavour to make a critical assessment of the data and disciplines mobilised.

PARCEDES will be led by Magali Watteaux (university of Rennes 2) for 3 years, in collaboration with 3 archaeologists and 1 geomatics engineer. The work programme will be organised into 4 work packages and 16 tasks. WP1 (2022): acquisition of data complementary to those already available. The contribution requested from the ANR (€305,280) will make it possible to finance 1 database of archaeological ditches (Vendée, Nîmes, tasks 1, 3); 200 photo-interpreted shots of a 1976 aerial mission (Vendée, task 2); 24 vectorised section sheets of the ancient cadastre (Nîmes, task 4); 1 DTM by aero-photogrammetry (Tuscany, task 5); vectorisation of a part of the Lorenese cadastre (Tuscany, task 6); photo-interpretation of 5 aerial missions (Tuscany, task 7); realisation of 10 archaeological soundings in terraced agrarian structures from which 10 sedimentary samples will be taken for dating by OSL-PD (Devon, tasks 8-9). WP2 (2023): analyses and creation of a webGIS where the data produced will be made available in open access. WP3 (2024): syntheses, modelling of results, finalisation of the webGIS. WP4: in parallel, communication, dissemination (4 public lectures) and information actions will be carried out and 5 working meetings for the team. This collective work will result in 12 deliverables: 1 webSIG (on the TGIR Huma-Num), 1 report on Devon surveys, 6 publications (peer-reviewed journals), 3 information tools (Hypotheses.org booklet, Facebook page, Twitter account), 1 Data Management Plan. To be organised: 1 session at the EAA (Sept. 2023), 1 summer school (Jul. 2024), 1 closing conference (Dec. 2024).

PARCEDES will contribute to revitalizing a field of research that is currently neglected in archaeology, almost abandoned in geography and little renewed in rural history. It will also contribute to (i) enhancing the value of preventive archaeological evaluations as research tools on agrarian spaces, (ii) the prescription work of regional archaeological services (France) by enriching the national archaeological database with predictive information for future operations. Finally, after the project, PARCEDES also envisages the mediation of the results with heritage managers and local stakeholders of management of contemporary territories because the plots are useful for thinking about the sustainability of development projects. At the coordinator's level, it will enable her to strengthen her research on plots of land, her collaborations with French archaeologists and her European network in view of future European projects.