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occupations

English translation: occupations

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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	occupations
English translation:	occupations
Entered by:	PB Trans

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19:27 Mar 24, 2005

French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Archaeology / Quebec French

French term or phrase: occupations

Ainsi, sur trois sites différents, on a recueilli des milliers d’artéfacts. Sur les mêmes sites, on a retrouvé les vestiges de campements historiques où ont eu lieu les premiers contacts entre les Mistassins et les Français qui venaient de la vallée du Saint-Laurent. Mentionnons, par exemple, le site Saapaanikuu où le père Charles Albanel rencontra le vieux chef cri Sebaourat, en 1672. Sur ce seul site, en 1998, on a dégagé 9 structures de foyers témoins de diverses occupations qui s’étalent du VIIIe au XIXe siècle de notre ère. On y a recueilli sur place plus de 3 900 éclats de pierres travaillées, 130 outils et 254 objets différents datant de la période historique. Et pourtant, ces trouvailles n’occupaient que 30 % de la superficie du site à inventorier.

PB Trans

occupation layers

Explanation:
This is a standard term assuming that your text is talking about a series of archaeological layers - i.e. the oldest hearths are buried deeper in the earth than the more recent layers that overlay them. This would fit with a period of several centuries and explain how there are so many hearths at one site.

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Note added at 19 mins (2005-03-24 19:47:25 GMT)
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e.g.
http://www.excavations.ie/Pages/Details.php?Year=1970&County...

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Note added at 1 day 15 hrs 50 mins (2005-03-26 11:18:00 GMT)
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I still think \"occupation layers\" is the most probable meaning, but it seems to me that you could hedge your bets by translating as:
\"uncovered 9 hearth structures, which bear witness to multiple occupations spread over a period from...\"
This could mean either that there are distinct occupation layers as I suggested, or that the site was clearly occupied on many different occasions but the the deposition does not allow separate layers to be clearly identified. Presumably, anyone with enough expertise to find the distinction important would be able to read such a translation and understand the correct meaning from it: layers or just messy successive occupations.
In either case, I am sure \'occupations\' refers to inhabitations rather than activities etc.

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Note added at 1 day 15 hrs 53 mins (2005-03-26 11:20:42 GMT)
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Try these Google results for confirmation:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=occupations archaeolo...

Selected response from:

Gabrielle Lyons
Local time: 17:03

Grading comment

This was a tough one! I decided to go with "ocupations", as per Gabrielle's last comment. I also found these links: http://www.civilization.ca/archeo/hnpc/npvol23e.html and http://www.civilization.ca/archeo/hnpc/npvol23f.html Thank you all for your input!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

settlements

Michele Fauble

4 +1

activities

Michel A.

3 +1

occupation layers

Gabrielle Lyons

4 -2

trades

Richard George Elliott

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

5 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -2

trades

Explanation:
...offering evidence of various different trades...

Richard George Elliott
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:03
Native speaker of:

English

9 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

activities

Explanation:
not specifically trades

Michel A.
Local time: 12:03
Native speaker of:

French

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Christopher Crockett: Yes, "activities" is sufficiently vague --all sorts of things which may "occupy" one.

4 mins

-> Cheers

agree

Richard George Elliott: yes, good point.

6 mins

-> Cheers

disagree

Michele Fauble: I think they are refering to occupancy of the site, rather than activities carried out there.

21 mins

-> Not sure :-)

neutral

peekay: "activities" can exclude "occupation" . I would most definitely go with "settlement".

32 mins

-> cf supra

agree

kobay

1 hr

-> Merci

disagree

xxxdf49f: faux-sens, ici occupation du territoire// relu et réfléchi AVANT de répondre - re-relu ...-> toujours évident qu'il s'agit d'occupation d'un territoire - pas d'ambiguïté

4 hrs

-> Il me semble que nous parlons tous les deux Français et RIEN dans ce texte ne permet de privilégier un sens ou l'autre du mot occupation :-) (réfléchissez et relisez le texte)

25 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

settlements

Explanation:
... The city's citadel is built on the ruins of settlements going back to 6000 BC, making Erbil one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns on the face ...
www.insideout.org/documentaries/ahmad/script1.asp

.. Tool kits contained woodworking implements for building dwellings and ... but archaeological evidence reveals settlements going back to at least 1000 BC ...
mirrorh.com/timeline3.html

. I could see occasional clusters of dun mud brick dwellings on a ... a couple of hundred
thousand people living here somewhere in settlements going back to the 4th ...
members.fortunecity.com/ thormay/travelnotes/afghanistan1.html

Michele Fauble
Local time: 10:03
Native speaker of:

English

17 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

occupation layers

Gabrielle Lyons
Local time: 17:03
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

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