Population Dynamics during the Second Iron Age: a Case Study from the Paris Region
Résumé
Apart from Caesar’s description of the Helvetii’s migration in 58 BCE, literary evidence for paleodemography during the La Tène period in Gaul is scarce. As a result, population density estimations in pre-Roman Gaul tend to rely on settlements’ size, duration of occupation, and overall quantity in a given region. However, bias control is usually insufficient and these criteria are not always suited to datasets compiled through constrained excavations in urban settings, in which site surface is rarely assessable.
This paper considers the region around Paris (Île-de-France) in the second half of the 1st millennium BCE as a case study for introducing an alternative method for estimating population densities, one that takes into account a wide variety of parameters linked to production and consumption. Located at a cultural crossroads between Northern and Central Gaul, the Île-de-France is an ideal test of whether different material markers of cultural influence such as vessel shapes and decoration, coin iconography, and funerary practices correspond to demographic variations.
Over thirty variables relating to density of artifacts, diversity of material assemblages, and architectural characteristics are used to analyze population dynamics at three scales. Using multiple correspondence analysis and hierarchical clustering, the population density of the Île-de-France is first evaluated on a site level, with every site awarded a population density rank to create a relative scale of population density among settlements. This scale forms the basis for micro-regional studies of population dynamics within the Paris area that reveal specific trajectories in pace of population change and in spatial distribution of population. These local trajectories are finally compared to large- and small-scale cultural phenomena of Second Iron Age Gaul.
Six levels of population density are defined for the regional dataset. Their analysis challenges the traditional assumption that the Paris area is somewhat deserted during the transition between the First and Second Iron Age. Comparison of different sub-areas of the Île-de-France shows a short-lived north-south divide in demography structure, mirroring small-scale cultural changes during the 2nd century BCE. Differences in population configuration between these sub-areas also highlight how the urbanization process took place locally, as it spread through Europe during the La Tène period. In the end, these variations can be linked to differences in social and economic complexity on a micro-regional level.
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