ABSTRACT
Pre-industrial economic activities related to the seasonal exploitation of forest resources, including charcoal production, are associated with temporary settlements and mobility in European and Mediterranean outlands. Because they have left few, ephemeral traces in the archaeological record, these temporary dwellings and the itinerant lifestyles associated with them are largely unknown. To better detect and interpret such remains, we conducted an ethnoarchaeological study in Morocco, where some charcoal burners still maintain an itinerant lifestyle. We first examine the types of seasonal temporary encampments of contemporary charcoal burners in two regional contrasting regions, Gharb and Middle Atlas. We then address three archaeological issues: 1) the individual variation and the skills and dispositions of charcoal burners in adapting the architecture and organization of their encampments, 2) the impact of natural and anthropogenic post-depositional processes on site formation, and 3) the difficulty of associating a temporary dwelling with a particular economic activity.
Acknowledgments
This research was carried out as part of S. Burri's doctoral thesis, defended in 2012 at the University of Aix Marseille (France). Special thanks to the former Haut-Commissariat aux Eaux et Forêts et à la lutte contre la Désertification and the Direction du Patrimoine du Maroc for their authorization. Thanks to C. Vaschalde and L. Maggiori for their participation in the 2012 fieldwork and to H. Tombs and E. Costello for the English editing.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).