High potential of calcareous tufas for integrative multidisciplinary studies and prospects for archaeology in Europe

Calcareous tufas are continental carbonates from open-air conditions, specific to wet and warm periods. They contain abundant remains of fauna and flora fossilised in situ and may accumulate regularly over thousands of years offering high stratigraphic resolution for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. As they are mainly comprised of calcite, tufas allow direct and precise dating as well as geochemical reconstructions of past climates. Additionally, recent investigations have highlighted their strong potential for archaeology as several studied sequences provided high quality record of in situ prehistoric levels. Tufas are thus a unique archive in continental areas for development of synergic multidisciplinary investigations of past human societies and associated environmental and climate evolution. We emphasise that calcareous tufa are key-deposits to investigate human-environment-climate interactions during interglacial periods, from Lower Palaeolithic to Antiquity, in Europe.