@ARTICLE{10.21494/ISTE.OP.2023.0967, TITLE={Editorial. Archaeological carbonates: the memory of water}, AUTHOR={Julien CURIE, Christophe PETIT, }, JOURNAL={Archaeology, Society and Environment}, VOLUME={1}, NUMBER={Issue 1}, YEAR={2023}, URL={https://openscience.fr/Editorial-Archaeological-carbonates-the-memory-of-water}, DOI={10.21494/ISTE.OP.2023.0967}, ISSN={2752-4507}, ABSTRACT={This text introduces the publication of the symposium "Archaeological carbonates, the memory of water" which was held at the MSH "Mondes" in Nanterre, France. This meeting gathered nine papers around the notion of "archaeological carbonates" studied in various contexts (caves, aqueducts, baths) and in a wide geographical area. Identified since Antiquity as reveal some historical texts of ancient authors (Vitruvius, Pliny the Elder, Strabo), carbonate deposits are relatively common in hydraulic structures associated with calcium saturated waters. Following the pioneering study of the carbonates of the ancient aqueduct of Nîmes in the 1990’s, different works combining different paleo-environmental and geoarchaeological approaches have recently completed the panel of studies of these archaeological carbonates. This special publication of the journal Archéologie, Sociétés et Environnement highlights the great interest of studying these carbonate deposits preserved in an archaeological context, true sedimentary archives of human activities and water managements by past human societies.}}