Foreword
p. 9-10
Texte intégral
1The international conference “Death and the Societies of Late Antiquity” was held from 3rd to 5th of November 2021 at the Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de L'Homme (Aix-en-Provence, France). This event was organised and supported by UMR 7268 ADES, UMR 7206 EA and UMR 7041 ArScAn. This meeting benefited from the support of many scientific and financial partners, whom we would like to thank again: the ANR Transfunéraire programme, the Institut d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne ARKAIA, the MorAnt project, the Collège des écoles doctorales de l'Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l'Homme.
2The conference aimed to do a statement of the studies conducted on funerary facts in Late Antiquity and to open up perspectives on their possible evolution, after three decades of considerable transformations in the methodologies deployed in the field and in the laboratory, leading in particular to the consolidation of the archaeothanatological approach. These transformations have indeed led to a renewal of questions about ancient populations and funerary practices, particularly ones of Late Antique period. The appearance of what was initially designated as “field anthropology” and the recent development of a collaborative approach between various scientific fields (archaeothanatology, biochemistry and geochemistry, genetics, history, epigraphy, for example) have been decisive for the renewal of study issues. Recent research and the multiplication of archaeological examples show a willingness to re-examine and revise data, both anthropological, archaeological and historical. They increase our knowledge of the treatment of the deceased, the location of funerary areas and the structure of burials, and ultimately shed light on the place of death in ancient societies, all of which vary according to region and culture.
3Thes new works, now preferentially multidisciplinary, thus allows us to rethink the way in which ancient societies envisaged death and managed their dead in the context of multiple changes - social, demographic and cultural - that occurred within the Empire and on its margins. Late Antiquity is indeed distinguished by its important political, economic and religious developments. This period of profound societal change saw the coexistence of Roman institutions and new social organisations, particularly those resulting from the nascent Christianity. The societies of Late Antiquity thus reveal a mosaic of political, social and cultural entities, both inside the provinces of the Empire and in their bordering regions.
4The aim of this scientific meeting was to see whether this plurality of situations was also expressed in funerary practices, to understand what elements made it possible to identify and define this diversity, and to establish to what extent we could truly apprehend the cultural and social structures of ancient communities and their potential transformations based on funerary practices. For in the end, between the first centuries of the Roman Empire and the late period, what degree of continuity or change in population and cultural dynamics do these practices reveal?
5A specific reflection on the world of the dead, elaborated on a large geographical and thematic scale and in all its disciplinary plurality, is thus now required. To this end, it seems essential to move away from a Roman-centric, or even Mediterranean-centric, vision and to integrate into the discussion the work on territories and entities outside the Empire. It also seems essential to avoid the pitfall of a vision that focuses solely on the appearance and development of Christianity. Thus, one must consider from the outset the plurality of entities that make up the Lat Antique world, for there is no such thing as uniformity within the Empire. Anthropology and its correlated sciences are henceforth called upon to find a privileged place in these discussions, associated with the more traditionally engaged approaches, archaeological, historical, environmental and societal.
6The three days of the conference were devoted to the examination of this vast set of aspects in a hybrid mode, which has now become commonplace and allows the greatest number of participants and the public to attend the presentations and to enrich the scientific discussion. The richness of the debates was fuelled by high-quality contributions, which we have chosen to bring together in this volume by grouping them into four major themes dealing respectively with the evolution of funerary practices, knowledge of the social identity of the buried people, the transformation of funerary areas (organisation and topography), and the question of differences between territories from the heart to the margins of the Epire.
7The volume is introduced by Alexandra Chavarria-Arnau, who offers a double reflection on the topographical transformation of funerary spaces in urban areas and on the first appearances and manifestations of so-called Christian funerary gestures. The text addresses points that are still being debated in the scientific community and in which several other contributions in this volume participate, such as the presence or absence of correlation between social condition and the location of burial areas or the appearance of the first manifestations of belonging to the Christian community in urban burials.
8The first section of this book focuses on understanding the evolution of funerary practices over time, reflected in particular in the syntax of commemorative formulae on epitaphs, which shows a transformation, between the 4th and 7th centuries, of the community's perception of death and of the individual's place within it (see Grose). These changes are also reflected in the expression of new gestures related to the celebration of the dead: the ostentatious nature of a family's social status is gradually modified, and the large monuments could be abandoned for more modest, less visible, but richly furnished structures (see Achard-Corompt et al.). The six contributions in this section, covering several geographical areas (from the Iberian Peninsula to Belgian Gaul), thus explore the way in which the various elements constituting the entire funerary system (epigraphs, mortal remains, sepulchral structures, grave-goods, among others) account for the transformations over the long term, from the 3rd century onwards. The final observation is that of a heterogeneity of transformation models, which are established in a singular manner and specific to each region or site.
9The second thematic section of this collective volume is devoted to the question of social identity in death. Funerary contexts offer a privileged framework for observing the management and representation of belonging to different categories of age, gender, class or status within the societies concerned. Whether it is attributed by the living to the dead, or whether it is the reflection of the place conferred on the individual in society, social identity corresponds to shared cultural values, the definition of which it is now possible, and necessary, to revisit in the light of recent data, notably provided by the six contributions gathered in this section. The case of Valencia (Spain), for example, shows a possible difference in treatment within the same community (see Oteo-García et al.). Certain interpretative trends now seem to need to be reviewed and qualified: the study by Ahü-Delor and colleagues shows that a grave-good deposit can represent the expression of an affective value and not of a social identity.
10The evolutions are also reflected in transformations in the organisation and topography of funerary areas. Seven studies gathered in the third part of this book take into account the changes that occurred in the choice of geographical location and the internal organisation of funerary areas, the evolution of their layout and their limits, as well as the reconversion of former structures into burial places, which are all sources of questions about the relationship between the living and the dead. Thus, Helly and colleagues have begun to reflect on the importance of the previous use of plots to allow for a transformation towards funerary occupation. The transformation of the status of plots in peri-urban areas is a general issue in many regions, as shown by the studies of Bosc-Zanardo and colleagues, Cavé and colleagues, Courtois and Ziegler or Valenciano. The evolution of previously established burial grounds is also discussed by Giuliani and colleagues and Braconi and colleagues. The contributions gathered here show that the documented transformations take on different realities and modalities according to the geographical and cultural contexts.
11Eight contributions, gathered in a fourth part, ranging from the regions closest to Rome to territories outside the Empire, finally allow us to embrace a wider vision that is the only one capable of reporting the extremely contrasted nature of the Late Antique world in terms of funerary uses and representations. From Rome, with the funerary occupation located on the Via Ostiensis, where burials from the Early Empire period and those from Late Antiquity coexist (see Marcelli et al.), to the complexes located at the margins of the Empire, such as the necropolis of Tell Keila, in Palestine, which attests to a coexistence of Christian and Jewish burials (see Bletry et al.), these contributions offer the possibility of understanding how and to what extent funerary practices varied in the different territories under Roman influence. The finding is that there was a slow and gradual evolution of behaviour, without abrupt changes, whether one was close to the heart of the Empire or on its margins. In this respect, funerary gestures represent a set of codes shaped by beliefs, culture, available material means, the environment, but also the gradual application of regulatory and legislative provisions such as those which prevailed throughout the Roman period.
12The contributions in this book thus offer the possibility of leading a reflection on the world of the dead on a large geographical and thematic scale. This reflection is intended to be interdisciplinary and to increase our knowledge of the treatment of the dead and their place among the living. This volume aims to stimulate a scientific debate and not to bring it to a conclusion. We hope that these fruitful discussions are only just beginning; we intend to continue them with round table discussions directly resulting from this first meeting, within the framework of long-term research.
Auteurs
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Gaëlle Granier
CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, EFS, ADES, UMR 7268, Marseille, France
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Charlotte Boyer
Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, ArScAn, UMR 7041, Paris, France
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, EA, UMR 7206, Paris, France
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Elisabeth Anstett
CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, EFS, ADES, UMR 7268, Marseille, France
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