Dr. François Blondel

François is an archaeologist and dendrochronologist who is interested in characterizing the modes of exploitation and supply of wood resources from protohistory to late Antiquity, as well as in understanding the modes of transformation, diffusion and use of wood from archaeological collections. This research concerns firewood, construction wood and objects in order to provide information on the place of wood and its economic system in societies and to characterise the impact of man on forest areas.

François comes from a professional background as a carpenter and joiner (CAP, BEP, BAC STI Mechanical Engineering). He reoriented towards a university career and obtained a Licence in History in 2004 and a Research Master in Archaeology-Prehistory in 2007 at the University of Toulouse. After several years spent in preventive archaeology as a technician and later as an operations manager, he started a PhD work in archaeology in 2011 at the University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté dealing with the supply and uses of wood in Auvergne from the Second Iron Age to the Middle Ages, which he supported in 2018.

François is a post-doc at the University of Geneva’s Institute for Environmental Sciences (ISE), involved in the project SNF: The Roman Egypt Laboratory where he is working on the constitution of referentials of local species evolving on the banks of the Nile from archaeological collections in order to perceive the impact of the variations of the Nile floods and the climate of this province of the Roman Empire.

Research interests

Exploitation, silvicultural practices and uses of the wood resource of ancient societies
Modelling the dynamics of forest areas and the impact of man on his environment
Economy and diffusion of wooden manufactured objects of ancient societies

Selected publications

Blondel (F.), Labbas (V.), Shindo (L.), Le dendrochronologie : potentialités et nouveaux enjeux pour l’archéologie préventive. In : Carpentier (C.), Arbogast (R.-M.), Kuchler (P.) (dir.), Bioarchéologie : minimum méthodologiques, référentiels communs et nouvelles approches, actes du 4^e séminaire scientifique et technique de l’Inrap, 28-29 novembre 2019, Sélestat. 2020. https://sstinrap.hypotheses.org/5500

Dacko (M.), Dousteyssier (B.), Lorente Sebastian (P.), Breniquet (C.), Blaizot (F.), Blondel (F.), Bèche-Wittmann (M.), Gaumat (C.), Veschambre (M.), Apports des archives inédites du fonds Auguste Audollent à la spatialisation de l’ensemble funéraire antique du site de la Barrière du Lot aux Martres-de-Veyre (Puy-de-Dôme). RACF, 59, 2020. http://journals.openedition.org/racf/4006

Blondel (F.), Martinez (D.), Ollivier (J.), La place du bois dans l’architecture à Augustonemetum/Clermont-Ferrand : les sites de la rue Fontgiève et de la Scène nationale (Ier-IIIe s. apr. J.-C.). Pallas, 110, 2019, p. 51-67. https://journals.openedition.org/pallas/17209

Clément (B.), Blondel (F.), La place du bois dans l’architecture de la colonie romaine de Vienne. L’exemple du « complexe commercial A-B » à Sainte-Colombe. Pallas, 110, 2019, p. 29-49. https://journals.openedition.org/pallas/17139

Blondel (F.), Miallier (D.), Une possible paléo-forêt du Néolithique ancien à Joze (Puy-de-Dôme). In : Shindo (L.), Edouard (J.-L.), Suméra (F.) (coord.), avec Bailly (M.), Hartmann (A.) (coll.), Arcade « Approche diachronique et Regards Croisés : Archéologie, Dendrochronologie et Environnement », Actes du séminaire interlaboratoires MMSH, Aix-Marseille Université, 10 et 11 avril 2014, Aix-en-Provence. Aix-en-Provence : DRAC PACA / SRA, 2019, p. 51-58. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02143064/file/Arcade06_article_Blondel_Miallier.pdf

Blondel (F.), Girardclos (O.), Approche dendroarchéologique de l’approvisionnement de la ville antique d’Augustonemetum (Clermont-Ferrand – Puy-de-Dôme) en bois d’œuvre et exploitation forestière. ArcheoSciences, Revue d’Archéométrie, 42-1, 2018, p. 17-33. http://journals.openedition.org/archeosciences/5135.

Blondel (F), Cabanis (M.), Girardclos (O.), Grenouillet-Paradis (S.), Impact of carbonization on growth rings: dating by dendrochronology experiments on oak charcoals collected from archaeological sites. Quaternary International, 463, 2018, p. 268-281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.03.030.

Martinez (D.), Ollivier (J.), avec la coll. de Blondel (F.), Faure (E.), Hallavant (C.), Longepierre (S.), Des moulins hydrauliques en périphérie d’Augustonemetum/Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme (IIe-IIIe s. ap. J.-C.). RACF, 57, 2018. http://journals.openedition.org/racf/2628.