Last fieldwork campaing
The last fieldwork activities of 2013 have been carried out during the second week of September.
In the library of the Municipality of Freissiniéres I found several books about the exploitation of upland pastures in the valley of Freissiniéres during the 19th and 20th century (I thank Odile Segond for her precious help).
With the collaboration of Catherine Briotet, I found important historical documents (18th, 19th, 20th century) in the Archives Dipartimentales des Hautes-Alpes (Gap). They were related to the use of mountain areas for pastoral activities and hay-making during the modern age. Some interesting maps were documented too.
Field survey in Val Maudagna, aimed at recording abandoned dry-stone structures (casòt and selle), closed the fieldwork activities of summer 2013. It enabled to document (almost) all the seasonal rural structures that are located in the upland area around "La Balma" refuge.
A huge quantity of data has been collected in the last three months in the Val de Freissiniéres and Val Maudagna: spatial data on the landscape distribution and structure of upland sites; soil samples; historical documents and references; oral information from local herders and farmers. These data will be analysed and combined in the next months. New posts will concern the first results of these analyses.
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| Two casòt recently abandoned in Val Maudagna. These are traditional dry-stone huts that were "restored" few years ago using cement. |
That's amazing Francesco! It sounds very promising and I do look forward to reading more about your result. By the way, are those dry-stone structures within a rock shelter used as pen or hut?
ReplyDeleteHi Stefano! Thank you very much! I am so pleased that you like it! For what concerns the structures, they are basically huts. Only in the French sample area some of them are under rock shelters, while in the Italian sample area they are not. I was wondering whether it depends on the presence/absence of boulders or on other social-economical factors.
DeleteCheers!