It has recently been observed, that a change in the crop spectrum happened during the so-called Middle Neolithic in France at ca. 4000 BC. An agricultural system based on free-threshing cereals (naked wheat and naked barley) seems to shift to one based on glume wheats. This is a major change for traditional farmers and this paper aims to shed light on its possible causes. Here we describe the results of new investigations in a key area for the understanding of this process: the NW Mediterranean arch, where free-threshing cereals are the main cultivars since ca. 5100 BC. New data confirm that the shift towards glume wheats is also observed in some sites of the NE of the Iberian Peninsula and that among the glume wheats that spread at ca. 4000 BC we should not only consider emmer and einkorn but also Timopheevi's wheat. Stable isotope analyses indicate no major decrease in soil fertility or alterations in local precipitation regimes. The agricultural change may be the result of a combination of the spread of damaging pests for free-threshing cereals and presumably new networks being developed with the North-eastern part of Italy and the Balkans.

While in recent times a considerable amount of research has addressed World War I's impact on France's archaeological heritage, the effects of the battles waged on French soil during World War II have garnered only limited attention, and the few studies that exist have essentially dealt with the damage done in urban contexts. These observations prompt several questions. How did the destruction of archaeological heritage wrought by the war occur, and where did it occur? What kinds of archaeological sites were affected? Did the destruction have an impact on post-war archaeological research? This essay attempts to offer a global assessment and focuses on both Allied bombings and the construction of the French (Maginot Line) and German (Atlantic Wall) defensive positions.