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Université de Bordeaux
LabEx LaScArBxCluster of Excellence
Cluster of excellence
 

CREATION OF AN ETHNO-ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPOSITORY FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF PREHISTORIC BODY ORNAMENTS

Marian Vanhaeren (PACEA-CNRS-University of Bordeaux 1)


Partners:

Gruppe Humanethologie,
Max Planck Institut für Ornithologie (Andechs, Germany): Wulf Schiefenhövel)

Financing: €25,836

Duration: 2.5 years (1st September 2012 – 31st December 2014)

Recruitment: planned CDD

The objective of this project is to create an actualist repertory based on the data available for New Guinea indigenous populations when they first met Westerners and interpret the observed territory variability in prehistoric body ornaments. This repertory will establish how the different types of body ornaments used in a human group in a specific territory reflect its ethnolinguistic unity, ecological niche, subsistence strategy and social organisation. To do so, we intend to collect and analyse the available data from the work and archives kept in 9 institutions in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

We will then apply this repertory to the existing data bases on Aurignacian and Late Mesolithic/Ancient Neolithic body ornaments. This will help to understand how regional and transregional units identified by the prehistoric body ornament analysis correspond to ethnolinguistic territories or depend on other factors. This project thus addresses the notion of space (cultural and environmental) on a long-term basis and with a unique approach. It fits perfectly into the Cluster of excellence’s research topic, especially its topic 1 (Settlements and Territories) and 3 (Expressions of the Symbolic and Spaces of Memory).