The in situ preservation of archaeological remains: using lysimeters to assess the impacts of saturation and seasonality

Recent research has studied the effects of seasonal variability on waterlogged burial environments. In a new approach to the study of archaeological contexts, the use of controlled laboratory conditions via lysimeters has enabled new insights into the nature of short term fluctuations in saturation, and the impact that these can have on burial contexts. In addition, the protocols used have facilitated interesting insights into burial environments and the way in which fluctuations in saturation and seasonality can impact on the contained organic components within them.     

Environmental limitations on prehistoric pastoralism in Africa

In several areas of Africa, pastoralism that existed prehistorically no longer survives today. Two such areas, the Southwestern Cape of South Africa and the Sahara, are discussed here, outlining methodologies for reconstruction of adaptive strategies on the basis of environmental parameters that constrained the pastoral economies.

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Résumé En plusieurs régions d'Afrique, le pastoralisme qui existait en temps préhistorique a maintenant disparu. L'article discute de deux de ces régions, le cap sud-ouest de l'Afrique du Sud et le Sahara, donnant un aperçu des méthodologies qui visent la reconstruction des stratégies adaptatrices en se fondant sur les paramètres écologiques qui ont contraint les économies pastorales.