Topics

Theme 1: Historiography

This 20^th anniversary conference of APRAB will allow us, by way of introduction, to look back at its establishment among the existing archaeological bodies in France and in a wider national and European context. It will also be relevant to examine the place of the Association’s research in contemporary society and its impact on the collective imagination since its foundation. The period of the Bronze Age during the history of Europe deserves presentation and explanation;  the genesis of the concept of a European Bronze Age will be reviewed.

Theme 2: Material products

Metal products

20 years after the publication of the proceedings of the Dijon conference Bronze ‘96 we shall try to assess the most important scientific advances in the archaeology of mines and the production of metals.  What new evidence has emerged to improve our understanding of the identification and exploitation of mineral resources, their associated structures, and, more broadly,  operation of mining districts?  Has real progress been made in understanding the processes involved in the manufacture of metal objects? Are we now in a better position to visualize the workshop of the Bronze Age metalworker and its operation?  These presentations should be in the form of summaries produced by groups of researchers working in different geographical areas in order to transcend the regional scale. More specific discoveries and case studies will be presented as posters.

Non-metal craft products

This session, devoted to non-metallic craft production, aims to highlight the main contributions of discoveries and research carried out during the last two decades. Proposals may focus on one or more materials (ceramics, textiles, durable animal materials, amber, stone, etc.), but must be sufficiently synthetic to form a picture above a regional scale. It would be particularly interesting to synthesize the data assembled by specialists on different aspects of the same material, combining in particular the study of raw materials with typological and technological approaches.

Theme 3: Production and subsistence economy

A comprehensive approach to archaeo-zoological and -carpological studies and the recent contribution of work on palaeonutrition have deepened our knowledge of Bronze Age production and subsistence economy. The abundant evidence, especially for the end of the period, evokes small groups of farmers who grew crops and raised livestock based on well-controlled production adapted to the type of soil and the climate. Production was characterized by a wide variety cultivated species, enriched by the picking of seasonal fruits. Herds were bred for their meat or milk and also, in some cases, as draft animals.  This already well- diversified diet was supplemented by game, especially for feasting, not to mention exploitation of resources from rivers and the sea. The Bayeux conference will enable us to revisit the patterns identified for production, conservation, transformation and consumption through multidisciplinary syntheses and case studies.

Theme 4: Settlement and land-use

If there is one area that has benefited from major advances in the last twenty years, it is that of settlement: whether architectural forms, the nature of settlements or their sequences.  This is, of course, related to the unprecedented development of field archaeology and more particularly of rescue archaeology.  The results have been significant and tell us about land-use and settlement in most French regions from the end of the third millennium to the beginning of the Iron Age. However, the evidence remains variable, largely dependent on regional archaeological policies and the scale of local development, not to mention the preservation of the sites concerned.  Regional syntheses  often have many biases that must be redressed. We intend that the Bayeux conference should address the large-scale interpretation of buildings and the nature and status of settlements.

Theme 5 : Funeral landscapes, burial practices

The combination of archaeological and anthropological evidence has enabled a concerted approach to the burial process that has identified stages in procedure, from the treatment of the corpse to the construction of a funerary landscape. If the identity, the origin, the status, even the occupation of the deceased people can be ascertained from the objects that accompanied them, funerary structure also contributed to their commemoration by the construction of large monuments, which influenced landscapes and allowed the maintenance and evolution of cemeteries for several generations. Research fed by numerous discoveries made in the field over the past twenty years should encourage us to use this anniversary conference to reassess burial practices and to think about new themes based on innovative methods and analyses.

Theme 6 : Social structures, beliefs and representations

If the existence of hierarchy in Bronze Age society and the dominant status of certain people is accurately reflected by the analysis of data (burial practices, weapons and prestige goods, land-use), the production of material goods often implies the existence of specialists whose personality and social status requires further explanation. Innovation and the transfer of knowledge are other fields of investigation still to develop. The same spirit of inquiry must also encourage us to analyze geometric patterns, notably solar, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic representations to identify the beliefs and myths they express.

Round table on mobility of goods, ideas and people

The European Bronze Age is considered as a period of increased exchange of products and techniques, but also movement of people. This mobility can now be recognized thanks to new methods: ancient DNA, isotopic analyses, computerized treatment of increasingly abundant data. However, other information acquired by the study of the material products of Bronze Age societies should not be overlooked. This information has fed research on the influence and mobility of people from the beginning of the study of our subject, including aberrations that sometimes emerged after politically or racially motivated analyses of the distribution of objects across the European continent.

The Bayeux conference will conclude with a round table devoted to this theme of mobility within the societies of the European Bronze Age. We can also consider how much this issue resonates within our contemporary society.