CALL FOR ABSTRACTS > Theme 2. Identify, analyse and reproduce the gestures of human - resources - objects interactions

Coordination : Guillaume BLANCHET ; Valentin MICLON ; Anne BOCQUET-LIÉNARD ; Damase MOURALIS ; Dominique TODISCO

The interactions between humans, resources and objects involve a multitude of tangible and intangible gestures and operations, of which archaeological remains are privileged witnesses. Recent methodological developments and the integration of these archives into multiscalar studies are considerably increasing our knowledge of past societies. They enable us to understand socio-economic organisations, their links to ecosystems and their implications (social, economic, ecological and healthcare). Documenting and reproducing some of these interactions, and recognising their repercussions, are major objectives of current archaeological research. This theme offers an opportunity to combine work in this dynamic from all chronological periods and in particular works aiming at describing and reconstructing the gestures used in the operational chain from the resources acquisition, their processing, transformation to use, to their dumping or recycling.

Keywords : Experimental archaeology; energy; resources; manufacturing/transformation; circulation/mobility; different levels of investigation/different scales of observation; differentiated socio-cultural spheres; health repercussions; cross-referencing with written sources.

Session 2.1. Acquiring and managing resources

Coordination : Marie BALASSE, Sylvain BURRI, Alexa DUFRAISSE, Joseph GAUTHIER, François-Xavier LE BOURDONNEC

Whether to eat, produce objects and tools or to construct buildings, humans have had to deal with the resources available to them to fulfil their needs and desires. The study of resource acquisition and management, using different analytical approaches integrated within multidisciplinary approaches, is crucial to understanding both the cultural practices and the socio-economic organizations of ancient societies. The question of the nature of resources, their availability, their adaptation to needs and desires, their location in relation to the places where people lived or where they were transformed, the ways in which they were exploited, and their repercussions on the environment, landscapes and biodiversity will therefore be at the heart of this session.

Keywords : forests ; quarries, fishing areas ; mines ; farming ; deposit ; raw material ; mining ; management

Session 2.2. Transforming resources

Coordination : Sylvain BAUVAIS, Gaspard PAGÈS, Guillaume SARAH

The transformation of resources, whether mineral, plant or animal, involves a number of technical, economic, health, social and even cultural issues. While the transformation step generally takes place between the acquisition of resources and the use of an artefact or the consumption of a foodstuff, it can also take place in the context of recycling or reuse processes. The shaping of raw materials generally involve a wide range of operators - sometimes with very different statuses - whose know-how may diversify in time and area. This process generally involves several steps, calling on different types of resources (raw materials, fuels, tools) and on common or dissimilar practices, that leave distinctive traces of technical gestures. Proceedings remains - and sometimes evolution - of these transformation steps enable us to characterise some productions (context, efficiency, destination) and to identify the technical gestures used. In this context, the data revealed by archaeometry are essential for identifying, understanding and reconstructing processing operations and their purpose(s). The aim of this session is to assemble all the papers dealing with this step in the operational chain, with an emphasis on cross-disciplinary approaches.

Keywords : working ; shaping ; manufacture ; human and material resources ; workshops

Session 2.3. Use, consomption, exchange and circulation

Coordination : Nadia CANTIN, Thomas DELBEY, Klervia JAOUEN, Valentin MICLON

Complementary to traditional approaches such as typologies, archaeometric methods help to reconstruct – among other aspects – living environments, consumption patterns and the movements of people and objects. In this way, everyday gestures, craft and industrial practices, and socio-economic organisations can be understood. This session brings together work that defines the trajectories of people, resources and objects, based on the biographies of artefacts, from their places of production, manufacture or acquisition, to the places where they are consumed and used. It also integrates studies on the circulation of humans, their knowledge and know-how and, more generally, their cultures.

Keywords : know-how and object; supply; mobility; eating; socio-economic organisations; transmission of gesture/technical transfers (heritage/cultural heritage)

Session 2.4. Reproducing to understand the gestures of the chaîne opératoire

Coordination : Inès PACTAT, Florian TÉREYGEOL, Georges VERLY, Guillaume BLANCHET 

This cross-disciplinary session is intended to present experiments carried out in various fields (from all chronological periods), allowing the reconstruction of all (or part) of a production chain (resource acquisition, transformation, consumption/use, rejection/recycling). The contribution of experimental archaeology has been essential for many years. This approach offers a way of reconstructing the practices and processes involved in acquiring resources, transforming them and then using them. When based on data gathered from archaeometric analyses and archaeological observations, experimental protocols can be used to test numerous hypotheses relating to the technical gestures involved in the various stages of an operating chain. The aim of this cross-disciplinary session is to bring together all contributions that present one or more experimental protocols based on archaeometric, archaeological or ethnoarchaeological data.

Keywords : Experimental archaeology; chaîne opératoire; ethnoarchaeology; referentials; energy; alteration; actualism; tracerology, neotaphonomy.