January 24–26, 2024, at the Athénée Joseph Wresinski, Bordeaux
Theme 1: The Neanderthal lineage: current knowledge and new perspectives
Guest Speaker: Prof. Emma Pomeroy, Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University, UK “Insights into Neanderthal mortuary behaviour from Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan: An update”
The announcement of the discovery of a new fossil attributed to the Neanderthal lineage, the results of new paleogenetic or morphometric analyses, new dating, or new syntheses on the history of Eurasian settlement by members of this lineage are all themes around which the session “Current state of knowledge on the Neanderthal lineage” will be built. It will also include a section on the history of research on this lineage, as well as a section addressing the question of biology-culture interactions through the study of bone or dental stigmata. This session will serve as a venue for meetings, discussions, and exchanges regarding the current state of research on Neanderthals.
To be accepted, oral presentations must present results that are neither published nor in press. Any original result can be the subject of a presentation or a poster (including studies conducted as part of a Master 2).
Scientific Committee: Priscilla Bayle, Christine Couture-Veschambre, Isabelle Crevecoeur, Brad Gravina, Juliette Henrion, Bruno Maureille, Aurélien Mounier
Theme 2: Mortuary practices and social inferences
Guest Speaker: Prof. Chris Fowler, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, UK “The work of kinship: opportunities and challenges in inferring kinship from the remains of Neolithic mortuary practices”
Understanding the functioning of past societies represents a major, if not fundamental, component of archaeological research, arguably since its inception. In this perspective, funerary sites can provide valuable evidence regarding the relationships between individuals, groups, and cultures.
Traditional bioarchaeological approaches, combined with recent developments in biomolecular techniques, have paved the way for exploring areas previously inaccessible for ancient periods. It is now possible to document with ever-increasing precision the organization of funerary spaces, population recruitment, dietary behaviors, the mobility of individuals or groups, their origins, or even their biological kinship ties. Multi-proxy and multiscalar biological and funerary studies, integrated with all archaeological data (funerary architecture and material, body management, etc.), offer new perspectives on the interpretation of social systems, and it is now possible to discuss in increasing depth the structures and functioning of groups, network systems, hierarchy, or residence patterns according to which they operate.
However, funerary and biological data are far from reflecting the complexity of the human relationships that govern societies. Caution in interpretation therefore remains necessary, as the world of the dead represents only a part, often truncated, of the world of the living. The growing use of concepts from social anthropology and ethnography in studies opens up new interpretive possibilities, particularly regarding individual or group mobility, residence systems, or kinship. At the same time, the intersection of disciplines also highlights the limits of biology’s contributions to these questions about ancient groups.
This session is open to all periods and contexts and aims to provide a space for discussion on the integration of all available data in funerary contexts. By also inviting presentations from the fields of social anthropology and ethnography, we hope to move toward a reconstruction of past social practices that embraces this complexity.
Scientific Committee: Dominique Castex, Bérénice Chamel, Olivia Munoz, Mélanie Pruvost, Hélène Réveillas, Maité Rivollat, Stéphane Rottier
Theme 3: Current research
This theme will bring together recent achievements in the discipline, whether they are new discoveries or methodological advances.
Scientific Committee: Patrice Courtaud, Guillaume Daver, François Marchal, Frédéric Santos
Program: Abstracts:
Scientific Committee of the 2024 Conference | Organizing Committee of the 2024 Conference |
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