Dendrochronoecology of ancient wine presses in the Southern French Alps
Résumé
Wine presses of la Vignette (village of St-Martin-de-Queyrières) are among the last marks of the ancient wine activity in the southern French Alps (Mallé, 1999, Pogneaux, 2001).An archaeological excavation has been conducted but the results are limited (Segard, 2000). Since 2012 we have been working on the dendrochrono-ecological analysis of the Durance valley constructions, that is why we have been studying these win presses.The first aim of our study was to inventory the structures containing presses in good state of preservation. The second was to date them. And the third aim was to understand the type of woods used to build these presses and therefore to picture the ancient forests.On the site of la Vignette we studied eight structures with win presses in good state and, another one situated close by (Shindo, 2012).Contrary to what was thought until now, the wooden structure of the presses is not only made of larch because some of the sampled levers are in Scots pine.The study of Scots pine pieces helped to build a long floating chronology. As for larch pieces, they have been dated (Edward, 2010) and the occupation of la Vignette dates back to the 17th century.On the Scot pine pieces, there are up to 334 tree-rings, for an average circumference of 1.70 m: they were big and old trees at the time of their fellings. Dendrochronology has demonstrated the modern occupation of the site and showed a use of two species: larch and Scots pine. This shared use is found in several local farms. All these buildings are located around 1000 m high, where the Scot pine is plentiful. It is used because of its availability as the larch.Finally, this study shows the contribution of dendrochronology to the scientific knowledge of an original heritage, witness of the daily life of men, which produced their wine at high altitude.
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