Abstract
The preventive excavation of two ancient sites on the Die plain sheds light on the timber economy and plant exploitation during Antiquity by combining anthracology and various palaeoenvironmental approaches. The dynamics of the landscape are marked by the layered exploitation of a mosaic landscape, and a regeneration of the mountain beech-fir forest, centred on the Early Period. The latter was the result of a change in the way the forest was farmed, with the emphasis on restoring a high forest instead of a coppice forest, in order to provide timber for building sites. The creation of vast mountain pastures at the end of Antiquity put an end to this, and created the conditions for a vast opening up of the landscape, generating unprecedented sedimentary activity.