EthWAL · Ethnoarchaeology of Western Alpine upland Landscapes: Italian and French case studies

The EthWAL project is the first ethnoarchaeological project to integrate historical, archaeological, palaeoenvironmental, ethnoarchaeological and GIS methods for the study of an upland area in the Franco-Italian border.This project aims to study the post-medieval and current upland exploitation strategies in two western alpine areas: Monregalese, in the Italian side (Cuneo province, Piedmont), and Parc National des Écrins, in the French side (Dept. des Hautes-Alpes). The EthWAL project will focus on how alpine human groups traditionally shape their seasonal upland landscapes. In fact, different subsistence and productive strategies (pastoralism, hay-making, mining, etc.) are supposed to adapt to the environment in specific ways, and therefore they contribute to the creation of different landscapes, composed by different seasonal facilities: huts, enclosures, etc.This research will combine the methods of ethnoarchaeology with the techniques of landscape archaeology. Interviews, “participant observation” and historical research will be integrated with mapping, spatial analysis and geostatistics. In order to evaluate the existence of spatial trends, a multi-scale approach will be employed: inter-site analysis of a landscape (settlement pattern analysis) and intra-site analysis of sample sites (artefacts and ecofacts spatial distribution inside the sites). Chemical and geoarchaeological analyses of intra-sites soils will be carried out as well, in order to identify markers of activity areas.The main purpose of this research project is creating an ethnoarchaeological model that helps archaeologists to interpret the alpine archaeological landscapes. Neverthless, this project will have also relevance for modern upland landscape management and for Cultural Heritage Management. In fact, this ethnoarchaeological research will give an anthropological, historical and archaeological contribution to the EU protection and development programs focused on mountain areas.