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Université de Bordeaux
LabEx LaScArBxCluster of Excellence
Cluster of excellence
 

NEMO–NEANDERTHAL MAN FACED WITH DEATH: FUNERARY CULTURES/PRACTICES

Jean-Philippe Faivre (PACEA-PPP)


Partners: 

IRAMAT-CRP2A: Christelle Lahaye; 

PACEA-A3P: Bruno Maureille.  

Finance: €120,635

Duration: 3 years (1st September 2013 -31 December 2016)

Recruitment 10-month research contract: Fixed-term contract recruitment planned: William BANKS (from 4/11/2013 to 3/02/2014) - Doctoral contract recruitment: (€98,000) over 3 years: Marie-Claire Dawson, starting from 1/09/2014. Subject: “Mousterian hunter-gatherers in Aquitaine. Considering a pivotal period of the middle regional Palaeolithic period”.


In the context of South-Western Europe, the Aquitaine Basin is remarkable for the richness of the archaeological records from the Middle Palaeolithic period and for the chronocultural diversity of the associated Lithic industries.

This project targets deposits that have yielded human remains, in order to understand the relation between technical and economic traditions and anthropic remains during the Middle Palaeolithic period. Several contexts thus provide the opportunity to consider the treatment of the dead and the symbolic sphere, with remains from this period that are rare and therefore precious. The diversity of human remains (from a fully-connected skeleton to an isolated bone fragment) and the evidence of post-mortem treatment of the bodies is exceptional there (for example, more than one third of the primary Neanderthal tombs currently known are found there).

Taking an inter-disciplinary approach, our reflections will be structured according to the cultural, environmental, anthropological and chronological aspects. Starting from a corpus of reference sites – from the Perigord region (Combe-Grenal, Regourdou, Le Moustier, La Ferrassie, Le Roc-de-Marsal), the Charente region (La Quina, Saint-Césaire, Les Pradelles, Châteauneuf), the Quercy region (Le Mas-Viel, La Chapelle-aux-Saints, Sirogne), the Agen region (Moulin du Milieu, Las Pélénos) and the geographical margins (Roc-en-Pail) – the aim is to arrive at a new register of knowledge about Western European Middle Palaeolithic societies where the human remains will no longer be considered as an element detached from their archaeological context.

Apart from communications in conferences, our results will be published in international reviews. At the end of the project, a workshop will lead to a summary work showcasing the Bordeaux scientific teams, and so the LaScAr-Bx team. The promotion will also include being made known to the general public (through lectures, articles in popularising scientific magazines).?