Background to this year's excavations

We have now been working in the Serre de l'Homme area of the Fournel Valley (Parc National des Ecrins) for three years. Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Medieval sites are scattered along the upper reaches of this valley between 2,200m to 2,350m asl. Last year we started work on the most complicated series of animal enclosures and associated "domestic" structures yet found in the French Alps (indeed anywhere in the high altitude zone of the Alpine Arc). The aim this year was to complete work on two structures that form part of the sequence at Serre de l'Homme (the upper reaches of the Fournel Valley). The sites in this area has thus far produced Late Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age 14C dates. This work is directed by Kevin Walsh (Department of Archaeology, University of York) and Florence Mocci (Centre Camille Jullian, CNRS, Aix-en-Provence)