Millet cultivation history in the French Alps as evidenced by a sedimentary molecule |
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Authors: | Jérémy Jacob Jean-Robert Disnar Fabien Arnaud Emmanuel Chapron Maxime Debret Elisabeth Lallier-Vergès Marc Desmet Marie Revel-Rolland |
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Institution: | 1. ISTO, UMR 6113 du CNRS/Université d''Orléans, Bâtiment Géosciences, 45067 Orléans, France;2. EDYTEM, UMR 5204 du CNRS/Université de Savoie, Campus Savoie Technolac, F-73376 le Bourget du Lac, France;3. Laboratoire des Sciences de l''Environnement, Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l''Etat, rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx en Velin, France;4. Geosciences Azur, UMR 6526 du CNRS, La Darse, B.P. 48, 06235 Villefranche sur mer, France |
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Abstract: | We report on the detection, in a sediment core drilled in Lake Le Bourget (French Alps), of a fossil molecule (miliacin) that was synthesized by broomcorn millet cultivated in the watershed, and then exported to the sediment. The variation in abundance of this molecule allows us reconstructing the history of millet cultivation around Lake Le Bourget. Our results support the introduction of millet around −1700 BC in the region. After an intensive cultivation during the Late Bronze Age, the failure of millet cropping during the Hallstatt period coincides with a phase of climatic deterioration. Millet cultivation recovers during the Roman and Mediaeval periods before falling most probably due to the introduction of more productive cereals. These pioneering results constitute the first continuous record of an agrarian activity covering the last 6000 years and emphasize the close relationships between local hydrology, land use and agro-pastoral activities around Lake Le Bourget. |
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Keywords: | Land use Agriculture Millet Holocene Bronze Age Molecular biomarker Lake sediments |
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