Lakes are threatened by contemporary climate change and human activities. Paleohydrological records provide important evidence for developing scenarios for future changes in the availability of freshwater resources. This study presents a synthesis of a sedimentological, archeological, and chronological dataset collected from Lake Annecy (eastern France) to reconstruct a lake-level record documenting the whole Holocene. This dataset shows a pronounced minimum in the lake level during the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM) (ca. 9000–7000 cal BP), preceded by a general lowering trend (early Holocene), and followed by a general rising trend (Neoglacial). On both the millennial and centennial scales, the Lake Annecy record appears to match the regional pattern of Holocene lake-level fluctuations established for West-Central Europe. In agreement with other extra-regional paleoclimatic records, it shows the dominant influence of orbital forcing. The high magnitude of the lake-level lowering (more than 5 m) during the HTM, with a 2–2.5 °C difference between the HTM and the pre-industrial mean summer temperatures, suggests possible drastic lake-level lowering phases in the near future depending on the IPCC scenarios following climate change. This would mean dramatic impacts on human activities and the preservation of exceptional archeological remains in regional lake basins.

A set of sedimentological, archaeological and chronological data from littoral sites of Lake Annecy (Savoie, France) is used to reconstruct a Holocene lake-level record. It combines studies (i) of sediment sequences observed on the northern shore and (ii) of sediment cores from littoral mires and plateform on (or close to) archaeological sites of the western shore. On a multimillennial scale, the results give evidence of three major phases characterized by a general trend to lowering until ca 9000 cal BP, a lowest lake-level until ca 7000 cal BP and a general trend to rise until the present. It also gives evidence of multicentennial fluctuations superimposed on the plurimillennial phases. Taken together, the Lake Annecy record shows a pattern of lake-level changes similar to the regional one reconstructed for west-central Europe. In agreement with other Alpine and extra-regional palaeoclimatic records, it supports the hypothesis of different climate forcing factors with (i) a dominating impact of orbitally driven summer insolation, (ii) an influence of deglacial outbursts in the North Atlantic Ocean, and (iii) a possible impact of variations in solar activity.

Un corpus de données sédimentologiques, archéologiques et chronologiques collectées sur des sites au bord du lac d'Annecy (Haute‑Savoie, France) est utilisé pour reconstruire les variations du plan d'eau au cours de l'Holocène. Il combine l'étude de séquences sédimentaires reconnues sur la rive nord du lac et celle de carottes sédimentaires extraites sur ou à proximité de sites archéologiques localisés dans les marais littoraux ou sur la plateforme littorale de la rive ouest du lac. À une échelle plurimillénaire, les résultats font apparaître trois phases majeures caractérisées, la première par une tendance à la baisse au cours de l'Holocène ancien jusque vers 9000 cal BP, la seconde par une succession d'étiages prononcés du plan d'eau jusque vers 7000 cal BP, et la troisième par une tendance générale à la hausse jusqu'à l'actuel. Surimposées sur ces phases plurimillénaires, sont également mises en évidence des fluctuations d'ordre pluriséculaire du niveau du lac. L'ensemble s'inscrit dans le schéma régional des variations holocènes du niveau des lacs établi pour le centre‑ouest de l'Europe. En accord avec d'autres enregistrements paléoclimatiques régionaux et extra‑régionaux, il conforte encore l'hypothèse de différents forçages climatiques avec une influence dominante des variations orbitales de l'insolation ainsi que l'impact des épisodes successifs de vidange des grands lacs proglaciaires qui ont ponctué la déglaciation dans l'Atlantique Nord, et celui possible des variations de l'activité solaire. A set of sedimentological, archaeological and chronological data from littoral sites of Lake Annecy (Savoie, France) is used to reconstruct a Holocene lake‑level record. It combines studies (i) of sediment sequences observed on the northern shore and (ii) of sediment cores from littoral mires and plateform on (or close to) archaeological sites of the western shore. On a multimillennial scale, the results give evidence of three major phases characterized by a general trend to lowering until ca 9000 cal BP, a lowest lake‑level until ca 7000 cal BP and a general trend to rise until the present. It also gives evidence of multicentennial fluctuations superimposed on the plurimillennial phases. Taken together, the Lake Annecy record shows a pattern of lake‑level changes similar to the regional one reconstructed for west‑central Europe. In agreement with other Alpine and extra‑regional palaeoclimatic records, it supports the hypothesis of different climate forcing factors with (i) a dominating impact of orbitally driven summer insolation, (ii) an influence of deglacial outbursts in the North Atlantic Ocean, and (iii) a possible impact of variations in solar activity.

Final Neolithic ceramic assemblages are still rare in the northern French Alps. Since the excavation of Les Baigneurs (Charavines, Isere) in the 1970s, the only important sites to complete the documentation are those of Parc La Grange (Geneva, Switzerland) and Les Balmes (Sollieres-Sardieres, Savoie). Although inclusions are sometimes described, none of these sets have been studied with regard to modelling and finishing techniques. This article presents unpublished sets from a stratified pile-dwelling site, which was studied from both technical and stylistic points of view. These data are compared with smaller ceramic sets, also unpublished, from other pile dwellings in Savoy. A wider contextualization allows the studied site to be replaced within the cultural dynamics of the second half of the Final Neolithic. In 1985, a test pit in Lake Bourget, on the submerged pile dwelling Conjux 3 (La Chatiere, Conjux, Savoie), revealed a stratigraphy going back to the Final Neolithic, and comprising three superposed levels defined by a series of radiocarbon and dendrochronological dates (levels 1, 2sup and 2inf). A Bayesian model based on the seven most reliable dates leads to the following chronological steps: - 2905 to - 2660 cal. BC (level 2inf), - 2750 to - 2570 cal. BC (level 2sup), and - 2580 to - 2455 cal. BC (level 1). Nearly 29 kg of ceramic fragments were found in these layers. The large number of assemblies has identified 73 stratigraphically related units, with 40 incomplete bowls. Coarse-ware jars - cylindrical, ovoid or barrel-shaped - mainly prevail in the corpus. Their lip is generally rounded and is, in a few cases, decorated with tool impressions. Frequent plastic ornaments are protruding horizontal strips and smooth cords, which may be single or multiple. Technical study of the pottery shows a quasi-systematic use of crystalline inclusions, mainly composed of crushed granitic stone in level 2 and crystalline sand in level 1, practices that seem clearly related to traditions found on the Swiss Plateau. The body and neck are mainly built by coiling, using stretched coils with oblique alternating joins, as in the contemporary pottery of the Jura groups. The exterior surface of many bowls is treated by burnishing or by polishing which has left no traces. Partially oxidizing firing dominates, even though some vessels that may have been made by firing in a reducing atmosphere - mainly small bowls with fine walls - occur in level 2inf and, less frequently, in the other levels. Finally, burnt residues are numerous and attest to the culinary use of most of the large pots. Morphological comparisons show northern influences from the Swiss Plateau in the two lower levels. Influences from the Treilles group (Causses region) can also be detected, while relations with Jura groups (Clairvaux and Chalain) seem more tenuous. The assemblage from level 2inf is thus transitory between the Luscherz group and the groups without ornamentation from the middle Rhone Valley. Level 2sup points to a limited impact of the first Auvernier-Corded Ware phase, while a vessel with a reduced opening recalls some Italian influence. Pottery from level 1 no longer participates in the evolution of the Auvernier-Corded Ware, but rather shows links with ceramics from the upper levels of Charavines, and points to the development of a local group in a more southern tradition. These hypotheses are quite compatible with the chronological steps indicated by the Bayesian model. The series from Conjux 3 are compared with small unpublished ceramic sets from the pile-dwelling settlements of the Bourget and Annecy lakes. Around Lake Bourget, the settlements of Sous-le-Four and Memars 1 (Brison-Saint-Innocent, Savoie) and Les Bourres (Tresserve, Savoie) delivered bowls and dates similar to those of Conjux. Technically, a clear division can be observed between sets from the north of the lake, characterized by dominant crystalline inclusions, and Les Bourres, on the southern shore, with carbonated inclusions mainly composed of crushed calcite. Other indications towards stronger southern influences can be seen in the morphology of the ceramics from the southern shore of Lake Bourget. The use of crushed calcite, already known around the 30th century at Angon (Talloires, Haute-Savoie), is dated to between the 26th century and the first half of the 24th century at Les Bourres (Tresserve, Savoie). This practice, of southern origin, seems to cover a fairly wide area between the Rhone and the inner Alpine valleys in the course of the second third of the third millennium. The Final Neolithic phase at Conjux 3 points to the gradual fading of northern influences during the first half of the third millennium, to the north of Lake Bourget. The strong relations with the recent Luscherz were followed by more limited northern relations during the early phase of Auvernier-Corded Ware, then by a quite clear break (although less visible in the technical aspects). The rise of influences from Southern France and Italy is probably one of the causes of this evolution, as can be seen in the levels at La Chauve-Souris (Donzere, Drome) and the two successive assemblages from Les Baigneurs, Charavines. The apparent reluctance to call on ornaments, whether of southern, Jura, or northern origin, and the use of crystalline inclusions are characteristics shared by Conjux 3 and Les Baigneurs, Charavines. Other stylistic similarities can be observed in pottery from these two sites, but the present state of studies of the collections does not allow an exact definition of their relations. The importance of northern influences in the pottery from Charavines and other cultural groups with non-decorated ceramics from the middle Rhone Valley (Les Bruyeres, Allan, Drome) is still subject to discussion. Even if they do not allow this question to be brought to a close, the assemblages from Conjux 3 provide a welcome geographical marker to help in understanding relations with the Swiss Plateau during the first third of the third millennium, and emphasize a northern filiation concerning the use of crystalline inclusions frequently found at Charavines.

On the basis of sedimentological analysis of two cores taken at Chatillon, Lake Le Bourget (northern French Pre‐Alps), and well dated by radiocarbon dates in addition to tree ring dates obtained from an archaeological layer, this paper presents a high‐resolution lake‐level record for the period 4500–3500 cal. a BP. The collected data provide evidence of a complex palaeohydrological (climatic) oscillation spanning the ca. 4300–3850 cal. BP time interval, with major lake‐level maxima at ca. 4200 and 4050–3850 cal. a BP separated by a lowering episode around 4100 cal. a BP. The lake‐level highstands observed at Chatillon between 4300 and 3850 cal. BP appear to be synchronous with (i) a major flooding period recorded in deep cores from the large lakes Le Bourget and Bodensee, and (ii) glacier advance and tree line decline in the Alps. Such wetter and cooler climatic conditions in west‐central Europe around 4000 cal. a BP may have been a nonlinear response to decrease and seasonal changes in insolation. They may also provide a possible explanation for the general abandonment of prehistoric lake dwellings north of the Alps between 4360 and 3750 cal. a BP. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Vegetation and lake-level data from the archaeological site of Tresserve, on the eastern shore of Lake Le Bourget (Savoie, France), are used to provide quantitative estimates of climatic variables over the period 4000–2300calBP in the northern French Pre-Alps, and to examine the possible impact of climatic changes on societies of the Bronze and early Iron Ages. The results obtained indicate that phases of higher lake level at 3500–3100 and 2750–2350calBP coincided with major climate reversals in the North Atlantic area. In west-central Europe, they were marked by cooler and wetter conditions. These two successive events may have affected ancient agricultural communities in west-central Europe by provoking harvest failures, more particularly due to increasing precipitation during the growing season. However, archaeological data in the region of Franche-Comté (Jura Mountains, eastern France) show a general expansion of population density from the middle Bronze Age to the early Iron Age. This suggests a relative emancipation of proto-historic societies from climatic conditions, probably in relation to the spread of new modes of social and economic organisation.

Depuis plus de 30 ans, dans les massifs montagneux des Alpes françaises du Nord, des programmes de recherche ont renouvelé nos connaissances sur des occupations humaines de la Préhistoire récente. Des gisements ont livré des séquences chrono-culturelles et naturelles de référence. Bien calées chronologiquement, elles autorisent une bonne approche des évolutions culturelles, du Mésolithique moyen à la fin de l 'âge du Bronze, ainsi que bioclimatiques, du Préboréal au début du Subatlantique. Pour répondre à des problématiques d'occupation des territoires, des prospections thématiques ont été mises en œuvre par des chercheurs d'horizons différents ; quelques-uns contribuent ici à cet échange de données. Retracer les épisodes du peuplement préhistorique dans un espace ouvert aux influences aussi vaste et sur un temps aussi long n 'étant pas possible dans cette contribution, il est proposé de porter un regard documentaire sur trois secteurs géographiquement individualisés et bien caractérisés géomorphologiquement : -dans les domaines lacustres savoyards, dans l 'Avant-Pays au contact du Jura méridional, les principaux épisodes de l 'occupation littorale sont présentés (abattages dendrochronologiques entre les années 3842 et 805 av. J.-C.) ; -dans les massifs subalpins calcaires de moyenne altitude, Chartreuse et Vercors, proches des grands axes de circulation (sillon alpin, couloir rhodanien), les modalités de passage du Mésolithique moyen alpin (de 8000 à 7000 av. J.-C.) au début du Néolithique moyen (de 4800/4700 à 4500 av. J.-C.) sont exposées ; -dans la zone montagneuse orientale cristalline d'altitude plus élevée, les travaux menés dans les hautes vallées de Maurienne et de Tarentaise montrent la précocité et l 'intensité des conquêtes néolithiques.

connaissances sur des occupations humaines de la Prehistoire recente. Des gisements ont livre des sequences chrono-culturelles et naturelles de reference. Bien calees chronologiquement, elles autorisent une bonne approche des evolutions culturelles, du Mesolithique moyen a la fin de l'âge du Bronze, ainsi que bioclimatiques, du Preboreal au debut du Subatlantique. Pour repondre a des problematiques d'occupation des territoires, des prospections thematiques ont ete mises en oeuvre par des chercheurs d'horizons differents ; quelques-uns contribuent ici a cet echange de donnees. Retracer les episodes du peuplement prehistorique dans un espace ouvert aux influences aussi vaste et sur un temps aussi long n'etant pas possible dans cette contribution, il est propose de porter un regard documentaire sur trois secteurs geographiquement individualises et bien caracterises geomorphologiquement : - dans les domaines lacustres savoyards, dans l'Avant-Pays au contact du Jura meridional, les principaux episodes de l'occupation littorale sont presentes (abattages dendrochronologiques entre les annees 3842 et 805 av. J.-C.) ; - dans les massifs subalpins calcaires de moyenne altitude, Chartreuse et Vercors, proches des grands axes de circulation (sillon alpin, couloir rhodanien), les modalites de passage du Mesolithique moyen alpin (de 8000 a 7000 av. J.-C.) au debut du Neolithique moyen (de 4800 / 4700 a 4500 av. J.-C.) sont exposees ; - dans la zone montagneuse orientale cristalline d'altitude plus elevee, les travaux menes dans les hautes vallees de Maurienne et de Tarentaise montrent la precocite et l'intensite des conquetes neolithiques.