A sea of clouds meets the moutains

A section in its landscape...

Scary clouds

A light dusting of snow

Hervé Cortot (director adjoint) and Richard Bonet (scientific director) of the Parc National des Ecrins

Andrew and Vincent doing the dishes (note the fashionable, pink rubber gloves)

Eagle flying through the snow

After the snow has gone

Vincent and Berangere wondering why the battery isn't working...

Andrew filling in a context sheet after the snow

Halfway through the excavation

A marmotte keeping a watchful eye...

A series of prehistoric and medieval encloures across Serre de l'Homme

Snow on the Queyras to the east

Sunset

Vincent undertaking photogrammetry

Each context is recorded using photogrammetry (a stablised, levelled, digital camera on a telescopic fibreglass fishing rod!). A network of points on each context is then recorded using the total station. The digital images and the 3D survey data are then employed in the drawing of the contexts using Adobe Illustrator.

Tea/Cafe Break

Yet another site (centre, right)

Serre de l'Homme is filled with numerous sites, most of which probably date to the late third and second millennia BC and the Medieval Period.

View towards the east

Serre de l'Homme X (right of photo) is situated at the foot of a lateral moraine on the edge of slow-draining pasture .

Another interesting soil pit!

An important part of the research in the Ecrins inlcludes the assessment of environmental change and human management of the landscape. This year a series of pits were excavated around the archaeological sites in order to take samples for sedimentary analyses and also for the collection of charcoal. This will allow us to compliment the palynological research with specific evidence for local use of, and impact on the vegetation.