1This book would not have existed without the interest shown by the editors of the “Natures en Sociétés” series, Marie-Pierre Ruas, Helene Artaud and Mélanie Roustan, and its scientific council, which wanted the book to be published in English to ensure better international dissemination. However, in order to enhance the value of scientific French and its specific way of thinking, particularly in the human sciences, we have chosen to attach an abridged version of each article in this language (downloadable from https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/fr/collections/natures-en-societes/xxxx).

2This book is peer-reviewed. Each contribution has been evaluated, commented on and re-viewed by the three co-scientific editors and at least one reviewer who is a specialist in the theme or population addressed, whom we all thank warmly for their involvement. The reading committee was thus made up of:

• Claire Alix, Senior Lecturer at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (France), Director of the UMR 8096 (“Archaeology of the Americas” research unit), CNRS MSH Mondes, Nanterre and associate member at Alaska Quaternary Center (USA), Claire.ALIX@cnrs.fr
• Françoise Audouze, Emeritus Research Director at the CNRS (DR1), UMR 7041 — ArScAn (Prehistoric Ethnology team), MSH Mondes, Nanterre (France). francoise.audouze@cnrs.fr
• Aline Averbouh, Researcher at the CNRS (CRHC), UMR 7209 — AASPE (Archaeozoolo-gy and Archaeobotany - Societies, Practices and Environments), MNHN, Paris (France), aline.averbouh@mnhn.fr
• Thomas Andrews, Dr., Former Territorial Archaeologist and Manager, Cultural Places Program, Government of the Northwest Territories, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife (Canada), tomandr@gmail.com
• Olivier Bignon-Lau, Researcher at the CNRS (CRCN), UMR 7041 — ArScAn (Prehistoric Ethnology team), MSH Mondes, Nanterre (France), Olivier.BIGNON-LAU@cnrs.fr
• François Bon, Professor of prehistory at Toulouse Jean-Jaurès University, UMR 5608 — TRACES (Archaeological Works and Research on Cultures, Spaces and Societies), Toulouse (France), francois.bon@univ-tlse2.fr
• Franck Braemer, Emeritus Research Director at the CNRS (DR1), UMR 7264 — CEPAM (Cultures - Environments. Prehistory, Antiquity, Middle Ages), Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (France), frank.braemer@cepam.cnrs.fr
• Philippe Chambon, Research Director at the CNRS (DR2), UMR 7206 — EA (“Eco-anthropology & Ethnobiology” research unit, Biological Anthropology and Bio-archaeology team), Musée de l’Homme, MNHN, Paris (France), philippe.chambon@mnhn.fr
• Jean-Jacques Cleyet-Merle, Honorary General Curator of Heritage, French Ministry of Culture, Former Director of the National Museum of Prehistory, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac (France), jean-jacques.cleyet-merle@culture.gouv.fr
• Claudine Cohen, Research Director at the EHESS (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales) and member of the Centre for Research on Arts and Language (CRAL) claudine.cohen@ehess.fr
• Marianne Christensen, Senior Lecturer at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, UMR 7041 — ArScAn (Prehistoric Ethnology team), MSH Mondes, Nanterre (France), Marianne.Christensen@univ-paris1.fr
• Anne Delagne, Research Director at the CNRS, UMR 5199 — PACEA (From Prehistory to the Present: Culture, Environment and Anthropology), Pessac (France), anne.delagnes@u-bordeaux.fr
• Edmond Dounias, Research Director at the IRD (Research and Development Institute), IRD representative for Indonesia and Timor Leste, UMR 5175 — CEFE (Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive), Montpellier (France), edmond.dounias@ird.fr
• Nejma Goutas, Researcher at the CNRS (CRCN), UMR 7041 — ArScAn (Prehistoric Ethnology team), MSH Mondes, Nanterre (France), Nejma.GOUTAS@cnrs.fr
• Charles Grémont, Researcher at the IRD (Research and Development Institute), UMR 151 — LPDE (Population Environment Development Laboratory), Marseille (France), charles.gremont@gmail.com
• Bertille Lyonnet, Emeritus Research Director at the CNRS, UMR 7192 (Near East - Cau-casus: languages, archaeology, cultures), Collège de France, Paris (France), blyonnet@wanadoo.fr
• Sylvie Mazzela, Research Director at the CNRS, UMR 7064 — MESOPOLHIS, Mediterranean changing societies Institute, Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l’Homme, Aix-en-Provence (France), Mazzella@mmsh.univ-aix.fr
• Ludovic Mével, Researcher at the CNRS (CRCN), UMR 7041 — ArScAn (Prehistoric Ethnology team), MSH Mondes, Nanterre (France), ludovic.mevel@cnrs.fr
• Delphine Mercier, Research Director at the CNRS (DR2), UMR 7317 — LEST (Laboratory of Labor Economics and Sociology) - Aix Marseille Université (France), del-phine.mercier@univ-amu.fr
• Sophie Méry, Research Director at the CNRS (DR2), UMR 6566 CReAAH “Center for Research in Archaeology, Archaeosciences, History”; Université de Rennes 1 (France), sophie.mery@univ-rennes1.fr
• Anie Montigny, Senior Lecturer at the French Natural History Museum, UMR 7206 — EA (“Eco-anthropology & Ethnobiology” research unit), Musée de l'Homme, MNHN, Paris (France), annie.montigny@mnhn.fr
• Jocelyne Streiff-Fenard, Emeritus Research Director at the CNRS, UMR 8245 — URMIS (“Migrations and Society” research unit), Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis MSHS-Campus Saint Jean d'Angely, Nice (France), streiff@unice.fr

3In addition to the support of the Scientific Publication of the Museum (PSM), the publication of this book benefited, for the translations, from the financial support of

• the UMR 7209 Archéozoologie et Archéobotanique - Sociétés, pratiques et environnements (AASPE) of the C.N.R.S. and the National Museum of Natural History (M.N.H.N. ) with the complementary participation of the “SAPOA” team,
• the UMR 7041 with the complementary participation of the “Prehistoric Ethnology” team,
• the LabEx DynamiTe (ANR-11-LABX-0046) in the framework of the “Investissements d'Avenir” programme (we would like to thank in particular the WG “(Peri-)glacial environments and population strategies” (coord. O. Bignon-Lau & O. Moine) and “Cultural Territories and Circulation of Ancient Societies” (coord. L. Gomart, L. Mevel & G. Pereira)
• and finally, occasional assistance from UMR 5608 - TRACES (Africa Cluster), UMR 6566 - CReAAH, UMR 7264 - CEPAM, UMR 7307 - IDEMEC, UMR 7130 - LAS, UMR 7317 - LEST.

4Our warmest thanks go to Jean-Philippe Rigaud (Honorary General Curator of Heritage, French Ministry of Culture) for his helpful comments, to Jean Clottes (Honorary General Curator of Heritage, French Ministry of Culture) for his precious help and to Armelle Bonis (Studies & Publications Officer at the Cultural Affairs Department of the Val d’Oise County Council) for her flawless revision of some of the original texts in the French version. We would also like to thank Benjamin Marquebielle (UMR 5608, Toulouse) for his essential intervention during the finalisation of the manuscript as well as Maxime Suing for his long night of work on some photos and Valérie Feruglio for the cover figure".

5The general revision of all the texts in the English version was carried out by Louise Byrne. When the texts were not directly written in English by the authors, their translation from French into English was largely carried out by Louise Byrne, and according to the texts by or with the collaboration of Mathilde Bognon, Liz Carey-Libbrecht, Peter Bindon, Wendy Leslie, Annie Caubet, Paul G. Bahn, Lars Anderson, Elizabeth Willcox, Atenao.

6The translation of the abridged versions from English into French was mainly done by Céleste Karlin with the help of Daniel Karlin and for one of the texts by Michèle Schoenfeld.

7The general bibliography (references) was edited by Nejma Goutas and Aline Averbouh and finalized by Claire Letourneux.