Firewood management and woodland exploitation during the late Neolithic at Lac de Chalain (Jura,France)

The paper presents results of the charcoal analysis from the lakeshore settlement of Chalain 4 in the French Jura (Dép. Franche-Comté), dated by dendrochronology from 3040 to 3000 bc. The investigated material comes from waterlogged organic layers (excluding fire events) where charcoals are assumed to be the residues of domestic fires only. The anthracological (charcoal) analysis reveals a complex domestic firewood management in balance with the social organisation and the technical and economic systems of the settlement. This firewood economy is characterised by the avoidance of wood species intended for other activities, such as building or foddering, and by the preferential use of wood less than 10 cm in diameter. The areas from which firewood was obtained are also connected to woodland clearance for cultivated land, which suggests that firewood was gathered along the paths, which were travelled daily.