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A new process of reconstructing archaeological fires from their impact on sediment: a coupled experimental and numerical approach based on the case study of hearths from the cave of Les Fraux (Dordogne, France)

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Abstract

A novel approach to the intensity of archaeological fires is proposed, based on a combination of archaeological observations and analyses of sedimentary hearths with relevant proxies obtained from using experimental combustion structures. In this work, two different structures were built and monitored. They aimed at reproducing two types of archaeological hearth morphology encountered at the Bronze Age site of the cave of Les Fraux (Saint Martin de Fressengeas, Dordogne, France). A series of fires was constructed and a large amount of data was collected: temperature curves, wood consumption and observations on substratum evolution. A numerical code for heat transfer was developed to model heat propagation from the surface to the underlying sedimentary layers, the input parameters of which were adapted to fit the thermal evolution observed with the experimental fires. We found that two archaeological parameters are fundamental to characterise the intensity of the fire: the paleotemperature reached at the surface of the burnt sediment (which in our case was determined by thermoluminescence analyses) and the depth of the rubefaction front as an indicator of a 250 °C isothermal surface. We then estimated the duration of an equivalent single fire that would correspond to one of the archaeological hearths investigated. Finally, with the wood consumption recorded during the fire experiments, and the estimated firing duration, the energy involved was evaluated. When generalised to the study of archaeological hearths, this approach could be of great interest in firing intensity evaluation (temperature/time/energy).

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Notes

  1. After the extinction of the second fire, we used the hearth, free from ashes, to cook two long sausages set in a spiral on it. The cooking of the sausage took a rather long time (30 min) because the hearth had cooled more rapidly than expected. It left a greasy layer on the entire hearth (Fig. 8). The third fire burnt this fat that left pluricentimetric black marks (Fig. 8) on half the surface of the hearth. After the fourth fire, we moved ashes and embers from the shaped hearth to get a hotter surface than after the second fire, and the time to cook a sausage at the same point as the preceding experiment was only 15 min. It left also black marks in a circle form like the sausage (Fig. 8).

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Acknowledgments

We are particularly grateful to Edmond† and Marcelle Goineaud, owners of the cave, and to M. Fargeot, mayor of Saint-Martin-de-Fressengeas, for their help and trust in a colony of scientists.

This research was supported by the CNRS INEE (SEEG, cave of Les Fraux), CNRS-INSHS and partly by the CNRS AIR Archéométrie, and by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (DRAC Aquitaine). University Bordeaux Montaigne gave a grant for Aurélie Brodard’s PhD. Additional support was provided by the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) labex LaScArBx (label of excellence Archaeological Sciences Bordeaux) from the ANR-10-LABEX-52 programme. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that improved the first version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRAMAT-CRP2A (Institut de recherche sur les Archéomatériaux-Centre de Recherche en Physique Appliquée à l’Archéologie) UMR 5060 CNRS - Université de Bordeaux Montaigne, Maison de l’archéologie, Esplanade des Antilles, 33607, Pessac Cedex, France

    Aurélie Brodard & Pierre Guibert

  2. I2M (Institut de Mécanique et d’Ingénierie - Bordeaux), UMR 5295 CNRS - Université de Bordeaux, 16 Avenue Pey-Berland, 33607, Pessac, France

    Delphine Lacanette-Puyo

  3. LIENSs (Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés) UMR 7266 CNRS - Université de La Rochelle, 2 rue Olympe de Gouges, 17000, La Rochelle, France

    François Lévêque

  4. GEODE (Géographie de l’environnement) UMR 5602 CNRS - Université de Toulouse le Mirail, Maison de la Recherche, 5 Allées A. Machado, 31058, Toulouse Cedex 9, France

    Albane Burens & Laurent Carozza

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  1. Aurélie Brodard
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  2. Delphine Lacanette-Puyo
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  3. Pierre Guibert
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  4. François Lévêque
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  5. Albane Burens
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  6. Laurent Carozza
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Correspondence to Aurélie Brodard.

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Brodard, A., Lacanette-Puyo, D., Guibert, P. et al. A new process of reconstructing archaeological fires from their impact on sediment: a coupled experimental and numerical approach based on the case study of hearths from the cave of Les Fraux (Dordogne, France). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 8, 673–687 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-015-0250-7

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