Papers by Bruno Boulestin
While the theme of these fourth North/South Meetings of recent Prehistory, which focuses on ‘The ... more While the theme of these fourth North/South Meetings of recent Prehistory, which focuses on ‘The place of the dead among the living’, gives prominence to the visibility and memory of the dead as well as to funerary rituals, this introduction seeks, on the contrary, to draw attention to two major categories of deceased: the invisible dead and the forgotten dead. It will first be reminded that nowhere is death held to be the end of everything and that it always leads to a new form of existence, in another world, and that, as a ritual of passage, the funerary ritual has the fundamental function of enabling the spirit of the deceased to pass into that other world. The body, which remains in the earthly world, can be treated in a variety of ways, sometimes resulting in a burial and sometimes not. The dead who benefit from a ritual but have no burial escape archaeologists, as do those who have a non-perennial burial: these are the invisible dead. On the other hand, for many of the deceased, no funerary ritual is ever performed. They have in common to be excluded from the world of the dead, either because they were strangers to the society of the living, or because they belong to a category described as ‘bad dead’. In archaeology, these dead with no funerary rituals are very rarely mentioned and even more seldom identified: they are forgotten. Whether they are archaeologically invisible or forgotten, all these dead must be taken into account in the study of death practises within past societies.
Les auteurs présentent et discutent les résultats d'une nouvelle datation des restes humains déco... more Les auteurs présentent et discutent les résultats d'une nouvelle datation des restes humains découverts en 1980 à Germignac, « le Bois-du-Bourg », réalisée dans le cadre d'une analyse paléogénétique qui s'est malheureusement révélée infructueuse. La révision de l'inventaire des restes osseux et dentaires indique qu'il s'agit d'une sépulture individuelle et non d'une sépulture double comme cela avait été précédemment proposé. La date obtenue situe les premiers témoignages de la diffusion du Néolithique dans le centre-ouest de la France dans le courant du premier quart du V e millénaire AEC. Les ornements de pierre et de test ne présentent aucune similitude avec les productions méridionales contemporaines et orientent en revanche vers le complexe culturel du Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain/Augy-Sainte-Pallaye (BVSG). Ces données appellent à une reconsidération des hypothèses envisageant une articulation du premier néolithique du Centre-Ouest avec les groupes méridionaux de tradition impresso-cardiale.
During excavations carried out in 1964–1965 by M.-E. Mariën on the Plage des Petites Fontaines of... more During excavations carried out in 1964–1965 by M.-E. Mariën on the Plage des Petites Fontaines of the Cave of Han, at Han-sur-Lesse (Belgium), a deposit of seven human mandibles was discovered in a level attributed to the Late Iron Age. From the outset, these remains were considered as belonging to severed heads, but only on the basis of a pre¬liminary examination made shortly after the discovery. Until now, though, it had never been validated by a detailed analysis. Furthermore, a series of direct radiocarbon dating, carried out in the early 2000s, seemed to indicate that they date from different times ranging from the Middle La Tène to the early Roman period, hence a post-Iron Age deposit.
The in-depth study of the mandibles that we conducted firstly shows that, even if the preliminary examination was largely erroneous, several of them do bear marks attesting to decapitations, thus confirming what was presumed. On the other hand, some of them display thermal damage, which probably testifies to the fact that the heads had been exposed to fire, complete and still with their flesh on them. At the same time, a new series of radiocarbon analyses has been carried out, the results of which are partially in contradiction with those of the previous analyses, leading to question all the dating. It is therefore neither possible to affirm that the mandibles are of different ages, nor to directly date their deposition, which would have taken place in La Tène C or D, if we rely on the field data. Several arguments favour the deposition of only the mandibles carried out at one time and shortly after death. We know nothing about the fate of the rest of the heads, but there is no indication that they were ever brought into the cave. Lastly, although the deposit probably had a cultic dimension, no more can be said about its significance. Finally, despite a few certain¬ties, this still unique, intriguing discovery continues to resist interpretation.
De façon paradoxale, alors que le morcellement, la profanation ou l'abandon des dépouilles sont a... more De façon paradoxale, alors que le morcellement, la profanation ou l'abandon des dépouilles sont attestés dans de nombreux contextes archéologiques ou historiques, l'absence intentionnelle de rites funéraires n'a pas fait l'objet jusqu'à présent d'études systématiques ou comparatives d'envergure dans le champ des sciences sociales. Et au final, nous en savons donc encore bien peu sur ce qui conduit une société à priver ou dispenser intentionnellement un individu de traitement funéraire. Ainsi, les modalités de la privation de funérailles sont-elles toujours et partout les mêmes ? Ou bien varient-elles selon les contextes sociohistoriques, en étant singulièrement reliées aux situations de crises ? Quels sont les différents enjeux qui président à la privation de traitement funéraire ? Plus généralement et de façon analytique, à partir de quels éléments factuels nous est-il possible d'identifier et de qualifier les situations de privation de rites funéraires ? Pour répondre à ce vaste ensemble de questions, nous avons rassemblé dans ce volume douze contributions d'archéologues, d'anthropologues et d'historiens, fruit d'un travail collectif mené lors de journées d'études qui se sont déroulées en 2021 et 2022 à Montpellier et à Marseille. Ces journées ont initié une dynamique interdisciplinaire et diachronique de réflexion, particulièrement riche et dense, sur la diversité des motivations qui conduisent à la privation intentionnelle de funérailles. Dans leur prolongement, ces douze chapitres invitent également à réfléchir sur le cheminement intellectuel qui permet à partir de données archéologiques, historiques ou ethnographiques, d'attester de l'absence de traitement funéraire, et sur les outils intellectuels et théoriques disponibles pour aborder la question de la privation de funérailles. Aurore Schmitt (CNRS, UMR 5140 ASM, Montpellier) est archéologue et anthropologue. Ses travaux portent sur les pratiques mortuaires du Néolithique et de l'âge du bronze. Elisabeth Anstett (CNRS, UMR 7268 ADES, Marseille) est anthropologue sociale. Ses recherches portent sur les pratiques funéraires dans les contextes contemporains marqués par les violences extrêmes ou les crimes de masse. sur l a di versi té des motivations qui condui sent à l a pri vation i ntentionnel l e de funérai l l es. Dans l eur prol ongement, ces douze chapi tres i nvi tent égal ement à réfléchi r sur l e chemi nement i ntel l ectuel qui permet à partir de données archéol ogi ques, hi stori ques ou ethnographi ques, d' attester de l ' absence de trai tement funérai re, et sur l es outil s i ntel l ectuel s et théori ques di sponi bl es pour aborder l a question de l a pri vation de funérai l l es. Aurore Schmi tt (CNRS, UMR 5140 ASM, Montpel l i er) est archéol ogue et anthropol ogue. Ses travaux portent sur l es pratiques mortuai res du Néol i thi que et de l ' âge du bronze. El i sabeth Anstett (CNRS, UMR 7268 ADES, Marsei l l e) est anthropol ogue soci al e. Ses recherches portent sur l es pratiques funérai res dans l es contextes contemporai ns marqués par l es vi ol ences extrêmes ou l es cri mes de masse. Archaeopress Archaeology www.archaeopress.com Aurore Schmitt (CNRS, UMR 5140 ASM, Montpellier) est archéologue et anthropologue. Ses travaux portent sur les pratiques mortuaires du Néolithique et de l'âge du bronze. Elisabeth Anstett (CNRS, UMR 7268 ADES, Marseille) est anthropologue sociale. Ses recherches portent sur les pratiques funéraires dans les contextes contemporains marqués par les violences extrêmes ou les crimes de masse. Des morts privés de funérailles : cadre général de réflexion Bruno Boulestin Les morts sont les invisibles, mais ils ne sont pas les absents. Victor Hugo Je n'ai pas donné son corps pour qu'il soit inhumé. Je l'ai rendu plus mort qu'il ne l'était auparavant.
De façon paradoxale, alors que le morcellement, la profanation ou l'abandon des dépouilles sont a... more De façon paradoxale, alors que le morcellement, la profanation ou l'abandon des dépouilles sont attestés dans de nombreux contextes archéologiques ou historiques, l'absence intentionnelle de rites funéraires n'a pas fait l'objet jusqu'à présent d'études systématiques ou comparatives d'envergure dans le champ des sciences sociales. Et au final, nous en savons donc encore bien peu sur ce qui conduit une société à priver ou dispenser intentionnellement un individu de traitement funéraire. Ainsi, les modalités de la privation de funérailles sont-elles toujours et partout les mêmes ? Ou bien varient-elles selon les contextes sociohistoriques, en étant singulièrement reliées aux situations de crises ? Quels sont les différents enjeux qui président à la privation de traitement funéraire ? Plus généralement et de façon analytique, à partir de quels éléments factuels nous est-il possible d'identifier et de qualifier les situations de privation de rites funéraires ? Pour répondre à ce vaste ensemble de questions, nous avons rassemblé dans ce volume douze contributions d'archéologues, d'anthropologues et d'historiens, fruit d'un travail collectif mené lors de journées d'études qui se sont déroulées en 2021 et 2022 à Montpellier et à Marseille. Ces journées ont initié une dynamique interdisciplinaire et diachronique de réflexion, particulièrement riche et dense, sur la diversité des motivations qui conduisent à la privation intentionnelle de funérailles. Dans leur prolongement, ces douze chapitres invitent également à réfléchir sur le cheminement intellectuel qui permet à partir de données archéologiques, historiques ou ethnographiques, d'attester de l'absence de traitement funéraire, et sur les outils intellectuels et théoriques disponibles pour aborder la question de la privation de funérailles. Aurore Schmitt (CNRS, UMR 5140 ASM, Montpellier) est archéologue et anthropologue. Ses travaux portent sur les pratiques mortuaires du Néolithique et de l'âge du bronze. Elisabeth Anstett (CNRS, UMR 7268 ADES, Marseille) est anthropologue sociale. Ses recherches portent sur les pratiques funéraires dans les contextes contemporains marqués par les violences extrêmes ou les crimes de masse. sur l a di versi té des motivations qui condui sent à l a pri vation i ntentionnel l e de funérai l l es. Dans l eur prol ongement, ces douze chapi tres i nvi tent égal ement à réfléchi r sur l e chemi nement i ntel l ectuel qui permet à partir de données archéol ogi ques, hi stori ques ou ethnographi ques, d' attester de l ' absence de trai tement funérai re, et sur l es outil s i ntel l ectuel s et théori ques di sponi bl es pour aborder l a question de l a pri vation de funérai l l es. Aurore Schmi tt (CNRS, UMR 5140 ASM, Montpel l i er) est archéol ogue et anthropol ogue. Ses travaux portent sur l es pratiques mortuai res du Néol i thi que et de l ' âge du bronze. El i sabeth Anstett (CNRS, UMR 7268 ADES, Marsei l l e) est anthropol ogue soci al e. Ses recherches portent sur l es pratiques funérai res dans l es contextes contemporai ns marqués par l es vi ol ences extrêmes ou l es cri mes de masse.
La grotte de la Fosse Marmandrèche s'ouvre sur le territoire de la commune de Port-d'Envaux, en C... more La grotte de la Fosse Marmandrèche s'ouvre sur le territoire de la commune de Port-d'Envaux, en Charente-Maritime. C'est au cours de son exploration, en 1983, que des spéléologues y recueillirent quelques ossements animaux et humains, des tessons de céramique et de rares artefacts lithiques. Le mobilier céramique, très fragmenté et constitué uniquement de récipients à paroi épaisse, paraît globalement cohérent avec une série homogène datable du Bronze ancien saintongeais, sans que l'on puisse exclure qu'une partie puisse dater du Bronze moyen. Les restes humains, par contre, sont datés du Bronze final par le radiocarbone. Ils se rapportent à au moins deux individus, un adolescent et un sujet adulte ou de taille adulte. L'assemblage humain de la Fosse Marmandrèche est actuellement le seul attesté pour le Bronze final en cavité en Saintonge. Dans le reste du Centre-Ouest, les vestiges humains datant de cette période sont également peu nombreux, et dans leur grande majorité ils ont été ramassés dans des cavités karstiques charentaises. Leur attribution chronologique repose essentiellement sur des datations radiocarbone, du mobilier contemporain leur étant rarement associé. Ces dépôts humains pourraient pour partie être de nature funéraire, mais le statut de certains demeure ambigu. En dehors des cavités, les sépultures du Bronze final sont rares en Centre-Ouest, qui ne sont connues que sur trois sites. La grotte de la Fosse Marmandrèche apporte donc une documentation nouvelle à la fois sur le Bronze ancien saintongeais et sur les dépôts humains du Bronze final en Centre-Ouest, deux sujets dont nous ne savons presque rien. Elle rappelle en outre que les associations chronologiques apparentes entre mobiliers et vestiges humains ne sont pas toujours réelles. Elle donne enfin l'occasion de souligner l'intérêt des datations radiocarbone des vestiges humains, à la fois pour la raison précédente et pour documenter les pratiques mortuaires et leur chronologie.
Lausanne 2022 Ce volume, troisième de la série MORMONT, est consacré aux vestiges humains mis au ... more Lausanne 2022 Ce volume, troisième de la série MORMONT, est consacré aux vestiges humains mis au jour sur la colline du Mormont entre 2006 et 2011. Plus de 1500 ossements ont été découverts, presque exclusivement dans les fosses à dépôts, emblématiques du site et attribuables à La Tène finale (LT D1b). Ils ne se rencontrent toutefois que dans environ un tiers du corpus des fosses, mais sous des formes et dans des dépôts (EM) particulièrement variés, suscitant étonnement et parfois incompréhension dès leur découverte. On dénombre dix corps complets, neufs incomplets, ainsi que quatre têtes coupées, cinq parties de corps et enfin 89 os isolés. Femmes, hommes et enfants de tous âges, à l'exception des périnataux, sont représentés, pour un NMI total estimé à 43 individus.
In France, the foundation of prehistoric science can be traced back to the end of the 17th centur... more In France, the foundation of prehistoric science can be traced back to the end of the 17th century, and from the beginning this science engaged in a close relationship with comparative ethnography. However, it was not until the middle of the 19th century that comparatism began to address not only elements of material culture, but also practises. From its application to the funerary field, the idea immediately arose that the dead were not always deposited directly in Neolithic monuments or natural cavities, but that after a time spent in another place their remains could be secondarily transferred to what were thus only ‘ossuaries’. We shall see how this idea, from which the notion of secondary burial would later emerge, gradually developed and spread among the scholars of the time.
Variabilité des pratiques funéraires au Néolithique moyen : état des connaissances sur les mégali... more Variabilité des pratiques funéraires au Néolithique moyen : état des connaissances sur les mégalithes et les grottes sépulcrales dans le bassin supérieur de la Charente.
Les classifications néo-évolutionnistes A. Principales classifications Le principe général des cl... more Les classifications néo-évolutionnistes A. Principales classifications Le principe général des classifications néo-évolutionnistes est donc de calquer l'évolution sociale sur le modèle de l'évolution biologique, le moteur étant alors essentiellement l'évolution des techniques. Les plus connues, qui sont aussi les plus utilisées, sont celles de Elman Service, de Morton Fried et de Allen Johnson et Timothy Earle, toutes dérivant des idées de Julian Steward, même si la dernière s'en écarte sensiblement. Hormis ces trois-là, je mentionnerai également celle récemment proposée par Christian Jeunesse, qui en est une des rares tentatives françaises d'adaptation. À l'ouest sans perdre le nord : liber amicorum José Gomez de Soto
Since V. G. Childe, the emergence of social inequalities has been classically associated with neo... more Since V. G. Childe, the emergence of social inequalities has been classically associated with neolithization. Over the past decades, though, several studies, based in particular on funerary data, have suggested that unequal and hierarchical societies existed as early as the Upper Palaeolithic. Nevertheless, upon closer examination of the arguments put forward and of the facts related to funerary practices, this hypothesis appears in truth very poorly founded. With regard to the architecture of the graves, there is no example of any Palaeolithic burial that required a major commitment. The social interpretation of grave goods and ornaments, on which most argumentation is based, raises many huge theoretical and practical difficulties. All the methods used to measure qualitative or quantitative differences, or to identify economically valued goods based on the rarity of the material, the complexity of the implemented techniques or the amount of working time put into them, are debatable to varying extents. Above all, they can work only if one assumes that there was such a thing as wealth, they cannot demonstrate that wealth actually existed. Moreover, most data come from early excavations and a lot of field information is missing or uncertain. A close examination of burials commonly considered as testifying to social inequalities, namely Sungir 1, 2-3, Arene Candide I, Brno 2, Saint-Germain-la-Rivière and La Madeleine, leads to a much more cautious interpretation. And there are no better insights to be provided by the dead themselves. The practice of accompaniment can possibly be discussed for some of these burials, but it is not evidenced and in any case its existence would not automatically imply that of hierarchies. As for the grouping of burials, which could theoretically indicate some degree of sedentariness and be indirect evidence of an unequal society, one can never truly assess that it results from an actual intention to gather the dead. In conclusion, if economically unequal and hierarchical societies ever existed during the Upper Palaeolithic, the present state of knowledge with regards to funerary practices makes it impossible to objectively produce any evidence.
The Conversation , Oct 11, 2021
This brief report summarises the main characteristics and initial results of the ethnoarchaeologi... more This brief report summarises the main characteristics and initial results of the ethnoarchaeological project conducted on the island of Sumba (Indonesia) between 2015 and 2021 by the Universities of Strasbourg and Dijon (UMR 7044 and 6298). The main issues concerned the study of dolmen construction techniques, the ethnoarchaeozoological implications of the feasting economy, the material traces of forms of political and social organisation and the practice of collective burial.
Ce bref rapport récapitule les principales caractéristiques et les premiers résultats du projet ethnoarchéologique mené sur l’île de Sumba (Indonésie) entre 2015 et 2021 par les Universités de Strasbourg et Dijon (UMR 7044 et 6298). Les principales problématiques ont concerné l’étude des techniques de construction des dolmens, les implications ethnoarchéozoologiques de l’économie du rituel (feasting economy), les traces matérielles des formes d’organisation politiques et sociales et la pratique de la tombe collective.
Préhistoires Méditerranéennes, 2021
Ethnoarchaeology of funeral practices: Aspects of the management of current dolmens and collectiv... more Ethnoarchaeology of funeral practices: Aspects of the management of current dolmens and collective tombs in the tribal societies of Sumba Island (Indonesia)
The megalithic societies of the European Neolithic period are characterized by the association of megalithic architecture with the practice of the collective grave. While several ethnoarchaeologists have produced important works on the architecture and social significance of the megaliths, there are very few detailed analyses devoted to their content, i.e. the collective grave itself. This topic was the main objective of a research programme conducted between 2015 and 2018. A first article provided a general overview and a comparison between the practices of traditional societies established in two Indonesian islands, Sumba and Sulawesi (Jeunesse, Denaire 2018). Here, we focus on Sumba, one of the small Sunda islands, located in the south-east of the Indonesian Archipelago (fig. 1). The western part of the island is settled by segmented societies formed by politically independent clans and villages. This area thus constitutes the last place in the world where the "megalithic monument + collective grave" couple can still be observed alive, in the context of still partly animistic societies. Our main field of investigation was the Lolli ethnic group (fig. 2), with, in particular, an exhaustive analysis of the graves in the village of Wesaluri.
Methods: As a reminder, if collective burials documented in ethnohistory can display extremely variable characteristics and functioning modes in detail, what makes their most profund unity is that they are used repeatedly and are intended to gather dead persons deposited on several occasions. At the time they are established, they are planned to receive more dead people later, those being in principle not all dead yet. The other essential common property of collective burials is that in all documented cases they are established to group kin: they gather people being related by consanguinity, affinity or adoption. In archaeology, the recognition of collective burials relies on osteological arguments: a grave is termed ‘collective’ whenever it is possible to demonstrate that all the individuals have not been deposited at one time –which amounts to saying that the grave was used on several occasions (Boulestin / Courtaud Forthcoming).
Grave data was collected in two Lolli villages, Wesaluri and Tambera. Their collection begins with a census of the houses and their clan and lineage affiliation and continues with the study of the connections between the dolmens and the houses (fig. 10). Then comes the systematic investigation lineage by lineage, this social formation being the relevant level for the study of the forms of management of the dolmens and the collective tomb. The interlocutor is generally the head of the lineage, flanked or not by other inhabitants of the village, often traditional priests (rato) whose function implies a good mastery of genealogy. The main lineage of Wesaluri, for example, controls six dolmens, four located in front of the veranda of the ancestors' house (house B), occupied generation after generation by the head of the lineage, the other two located in the rice fields, about 400 m as the crow flies from the house. Before going on to establish the biographies of the dolmens, it is necessary to get as precise an idea as possible of the genealogy of the lineage (fig. 11). House B is the house of the village founder, Pale Poti 1. Our informant in the survey conducted in 2017 was his great-grandson, Toda Mogu Wole. Toda Mogu Wole died in 2018, leaving the chieftaincy to his youngest son, Lukas Lede Toda, accordind to the Lolli's rule of ultimogeniture. It should be noted in passing that the first three lineage chiefs each had two wives.
Genealogy serves as a support for the construction of dolmens' biographies. Dolmen 7, one of the tombs managed by the founding lineage, houses the remains of seven individuals from four distinct generations and continues to be active (fig. 12). It was built on the occasion of the death of the village founder's second wife. Dolmen 6 (fig. 13) was built on the occasion of the death of the second wife of Bura Sele, son of the founder and his successor at the head of the lineage. It also contains the remains of seven individuals from four different generations. The fact that it runs parallel to Dolmen 7 is obviously not without implications. We will come back to this aspect later. This biographical work was carried out in 2017 and 2018 for all the dolmens in the village of Wesaluri, which will be our main source for this article. The exploitation of the data is in progress and we will limit ourselves here to summarizing our first observations. Among the preferred avenues is the exploration of kinship links both within the same dolmen and between the different dolmens managed by the same lineage.
Some results
Dolmen pools: The study of the main lineage of the village of Wesaluri showed that a single lineage used several collective graves in parallel. It is these groupings of collective tombs used simultaneously, and not successively, that we call "pools of dolmens". The system of the pools of dolmens used simultaneously by the same reference group is counter-intuitive with respect to the scheme commonly postulated in research on European Neolithic collective tombs, where it is customary to consider, implicitly, as successive the different dolmens of the same complex that are presumed to belong to the same reference population. Thus, the construction of a new dolmen is considered to be the consequence of the disaffection of the "active" dolmen. Within this paradigm, two dolmens used simultaneously (if we have the means to demonstrate it, which is another matter) will automatically, in a archaeological context, be attributed to two different reference groups. The use of the pool system in Sumba obviously does not allow us to conclude that such a system also existed in the European Neolithic. It simply makes us attentive to a possibility that has so far been little (if ever) taken into account by the specialists of this period.
Hiatus : The study of Neolithic collective tombs shows the existence of hiatuses in the use of the monument that can last several generations, whereas archaeologists generally start from the idea that a collective tomb welcomes all the members of a reference group generation after generation. Such hiatuses also exist in the dolmens of the villages we studied. Highlighting the dolmen pool system allows us to explain where the missing dead are buried, but does not indicate the causes of the hiatuses. The second part of the article is devoted to the study of these causes, in the context of the segmented societies of Sumba.
Kin relationships: The study of kinship ties in the dolmens of Wesaluri remains largely to be done. In this last part, we will limit ourselves to a few general remarks intended to illustrate the complexity of the configurations encountered and the importance of the ethnoarchaeological model we try to elaborate within a more general reflection on the understanding of collective practice in the megalithic cultures of the European Neolithic, with a particular emphasis on the delicate question of the interpretation of the results of palaeogenomic analyses. The preliminary results we present again come from the study of the main lineage of the village of Wesaluri. We have analysed the influence of the pool system on the composition of the various collective graves and the kinship ties between the deceased buried there, and the way in which the kinship ties of the collective graves are conditioned by social organisation in general. But we have also studied the impact on the genetic composition of the collective grave population of rare events such as divorce, individual adoption and the integration of families from other ethnic groups. The ultimate objective will be, in a context where the identity of the deceased and their kinship ties are known, to develop a reference model for a society with patrilineal and patrilocal clans.
Journal of Neolithic Archaeology, 2021
JEUNESSE C., BOULESTIN B., BEC-DRELON N., DENAIRE A. (2021) Ethnoarchaeology of funeral practices... more JEUNESSE C., BOULESTIN B., BEC-DRELON N., DENAIRE A. (2021) Ethnoarchaeology of funeral practices: Aspects of the management of current dolmens and collective tombs in the tribal societies of Sumba Island (Indonesia), Journal of Neolithic Archaeology 23, 2021, 61 – 82
This paper presents the first results of an ethnoarchaeological project on the Indonesian island of Sumba, focusing on the study of the practice of collective burials. The aim is to develop reference models that can be used in our studies of European Neolithic societies. As with any ethnoarchaeological approach, the aim is not to provide ready-made solutions, but to enrich the range of possible hypotheses. Three aspects are given special attention in this article: First, the existence of "dolmen pools", i. e. groups of dolmens used simultaneously by the same social group, second, the interpretation of "gaps" in the use of particular megalithic tombs, and third, the contribution of the Sumba data to the understanding of kinship relationships as provided by palaeogenetics. For each of these aspects, we show which social logic the occupation or non-occupation of the dolmens follows. In this way, the "dolmen pool" model can also help in the interpretation of Neolithic burial practices in megalithic graves, which are difficult to explain with the current interpretative approaches.
Uploads
Papers by Bruno Boulestin
The in-depth study of the mandibles that we conducted firstly shows that, even if the preliminary examination was largely erroneous, several of them do bear marks attesting to decapitations, thus confirming what was presumed. On the other hand, some of them display thermal damage, which probably testifies to the fact that the heads had been exposed to fire, complete and still with their flesh on them. At the same time, a new series of radiocarbon analyses has been carried out, the results of which are partially in contradiction with those of the previous analyses, leading to question all the dating. It is therefore neither possible to affirm that the mandibles are of different ages, nor to directly date their deposition, which would have taken place in La Tène C or D, if we rely on the field data. Several arguments favour the deposition of only the mandibles carried out at one time and shortly after death. We know nothing about the fate of the rest of the heads, but there is no indication that they were ever brought into the cave. Lastly, although the deposit probably had a cultic dimension, no more can be said about its significance. Finally, despite a few certain¬ties, this still unique, intriguing discovery continues to resist interpretation.
Ce bref rapport récapitule les principales caractéristiques et les premiers résultats du projet ethnoarchéologique mené sur l’île de Sumba (Indonésie) entre 2015 et 2021 par les Universités de Strasbourg et Dijon (UMR 7044 et 6298). Les principales problématiques ont concerné l’étude des techniques de construction des dolmens, les implications ethnoarchéozoologiques de l’économie du rituel (feasting economy), les traces matérielles des formes d’organisation politiques et sociales et la pratique de la tombe collective.
The megalithic societies of the European Neolithic period are characterized by the association of megalithic architecture with the practice of the collective grave. While several ethnoarchaeologists have produced important works on the architecture and social significance of the megaliths, there are very few detailed analyses devoted to their content, i.e. the collective grave itself. This topic was the main objective of a research programme conducted between 2015 and 2018. A first article provided a general overview and a comparison between the practices of traditional societies established in two Indonesian islands, Sumba and Sulawesi (Jeunesse, Denaire 2018). Here, we focus on Sumba, one of the small Sunda islands, located in the south-east of the Indonesian Archipelago (fig. 1). The western part of the island is settled by segmented societies formed by politically independent clans and villages. This area thus constitutes the last place in the world where the "megalithic monument + collective grave" couple can still be observed alive, in the context of still partly animistic societies. Our main field of investigation was the Lolli ethnic group (fig. 2), with, in particular, an exhaustive analysis of the graves in the village of Wesaluri.
Methods: As a reminder, if collective burials documented in ethnohistory can display extremely variable characteristics and functioning modes in detail, what makes their most profund unity is that they are used repeatedly and are intended to gather dead persons deposited on several occasions. At the time they are established, they are planned to receive more dead people later, those being in principle not all dead yet. The other essential common property of collective burials is that in all documented cases they are established to group kin: they gather people being related by consanguinity, affinity or adoption. In archaeology, the recognition of collective burials relies on osteological arguments: a grave is termed ‘collective’ whenever it is possible to demonstrate that all the individuals have not been deposited at one time –which amounts to saying that the grave was used on several occasions (Boulestin / Courtaud Forthcoming).
Grave data was collected in two Lolli villages, Wesaluri and Tambera. Their collection begins with a census of the houses and their clan and lineage affiliation and continues with the study of the connections between the dolmens and the houses (fig. 10). Then comes the systematic investigation lineage by lineage, this social formation being the relevant level for the study of the forms of management of the dolmens and the collective tomb. The interlocutor is generally the head of the lineage, flanked or not by other inhabitants of the village, often traditional priests (rato) whose function implies a good mastery of genealogy. The main lineage of Wesaluri, for example, controls six dolmens, four located in front of the veranda of the ancestors' house (house B), occupied generation after generation by the head of the lineage, the other two located in the rice fields, about 400 m as the crow flies from the house. Before going on to establish the biographies of the dolmens, it is necessary to get as precise an idea as possible of the genealogy of the lineage (fig. 11). House B is the house of the village founder, Pale Poti 1. Our informant in the survey conducted in 2017 was his great-grandson, Toda Mogu Wole. Toda Mogu Wole died in 2018, leaving the chieftaincy to his youngest son, Lukas Lede Toda, accordind to the Lolli's rule of ultimogeniture. It should be noted in passing that the first three lineage chiefs each had two wives.
Genealogy serves as a support for the construction of dolmens' biographies. Dolmen 7, one of the tombs managed by the founding lineage, houses the remains of seven individuals from four distinct generations and continues to be active (fig. 12). It was built on the occasion of the death of the village founder's second wife. Dolmen 6 (fig. 13) was built on the occasion of the death of the second wife of Bura Sele, son of the founder and his successor at the head of the lineage. It also contains the remains of seven individuals from four different generations. The fact that it runs parallel to Dolmen 7 is obviously not without implications. We will come back to this aspect later. This biographical work was carried out in 2017 and 2018 for all the dolmens in the village of Wesaluri, which will be our main source for this article. The exploitation of the data is in progress and we will limit ourselves here to summarizing our first observations. Among the preferred avenues is the exploration of kinship links both within the same dolmen and between the different dolmens managed by the same lineage.
Some results
Dolmen pools: The study of the main lineage of the village of Wesaluri showed that a single lineage used several collective graves in parallel. It is these groupings of collective tombs used simultaneously, and not successively, that we call "pools of dolmens". The system of the pools of dolmens used simultaneously by the same reference group is counter-intuitive with respect to the scheme commonly postulated in research on European Neolithic collective tombs, where it is customary to consider, implicitly, as successive the different dolmens of the same complex that are presumed to belong to the same reference population. Thus, the construction of a new dolmen is considered to be the consequence of the disaffection of the "active" dolmen. Within this paradigm, two dolmens used simultaneously (if we have the means to demonstrate it, which is another matter) will automatically, in a archaeological context, be attributed to two different reference groups. The use of the pool system in Sumba obviously does not allow us to conclude that such a system also existed in the European Neolithic. It simply makes us attentive to a possibility that has so far been little (if ever) taken into account by the specialists of this period.
Hiatus : The study of Neolithic collective tombs shows the existence of hiatuses in the use of the monument that can last several generations, whereas archaeologists generally start from the idea that a collective tomb welcomes all the members of a reference group generation after generation. Such hiatuses also exist in the dolmens of the villages we studied. Highlighting the dolmen pool system allows us to explain where the missing dead are buried, but does not indicate the causes of the hiatuses. The second part of the article is devoted to the study of these causes, in the context of the segmented societies of Sumba.
Kin relationships: The study of kinship ties in the dolmens of Wesaluri remains largely to be done. In this last part, we will limit ourselves to a few general remarks intended to illustrate the complexity of the configurations encountered and the importance of the ethnoarchaeological model we try to elaborate within a more general reflection on the understanding of collective practice in the megalithic cultures of the European Neolithic, with a particular emphasis on the delicate question of the interpretation of the results of palaeogenomic analyses. The preliminary results we present again come from the study of the main lineage of the village of Wesaluri. We have analysed the influence of the pool system on the composition of the various collective graves and the kinship ties between the deceased buried there, and the way in which the kinship ties of the collective graves are conditioned by social organisation in general. But we have also studied the impact on the genetic composition of the collective grave population of rare events such as divorce, individual adoption and the integration of families from other ethnic groups. The ultimate objective will be, in a context where the identity of the deceased and their kinship ties are known, to develop a reference model for a society with patrilineal and patrilocal clans.
This paper presents the first results of an ethnoarchaeological project on the Indonesian island of Sumba, focusing on the study of the practice of collective burials. The aim is to develop reference models that can be used in our studies of European Neolithic societies. As with any ethnoarchaeological approach, the aim is not to provide ready-made solutions, but to enrich the range of possible hypotheses. Three aspects are given special attention in this article: First, the existence of "dolmen pools", i. e. groups of dolmens used simultaneously by the same social group, second, the interpretation of "gaps" in the use of particular megalithic tombs, and third, the contribution of the Sumba data to the understanding of kinship relationships as provided by palaeogenetics. For each of these aspects, we show which social logic the occupation or non-occupation of the dolmens follows. In this way, the "dolmen pool" model can also help in the interpretation of Neolithic burial practices in megalithic graves, which are difficult to explain with the current interpretative approaches.
The in-depth study of the mandibles that we conducted firstly shows that, even if the preliminary examination was largely erroneous, several of them do bear marks attesting to decapitations, thus confirming what was presumed. On the other hand, some of them display thermal damage, which probably testifies to the fact that the heads had been exposed to fire, complete and still with their flesh on them. At the same time, a new series of radiocarbon analyses has been carried out, the results of which are partially in contradiction with those of the previous analyses, leading to question all the dating. It is therefore neither possible to affirm that the mandibles are of different ages, nor to directly date their deposition, which would have taken place in La Tène C or D, if we rely on the field data. Several arguments favour the deposition of only the mandibles carried out at one time and shortly after death. We know nothing about the fate of the rest of the heads, but there is no indication that they were ever brought into the cave. Lastly, although the deposit probably had a cultic dimension, no more can be said about its significance. Finally, despite a few certain¬ties, this still unique, intriguing discovery continues to resist interpretation.
Ce bref rapport récapitule les principales caractéristiques et les premiers résultats du projet ethnoarchéologique mené sur l’île de Sumba (Indonésie) entre 2015 et 2021 par les Universités de Strasbourg et Dijon (UMR 7044 et 6298). Les principales problématiques ont concerné l’étude des techniques de construction des dolmens, les implications ethnoarchéozoologiques de l’économie du rituel (feasting economy), les traces matérielles des formes d’organisation politiques et sociales et la pratique de la tombe collective.
The megalithic societies of the European Neolithic period are characterized by the association of megalithic architecture with the practice of the collective grave. While several ethnoarchaeologists have produced important works on the architecture and social significance of the megaliths, there are very few detailed analyses devoted to their content, i.e. the collective grave itself. This topic was the main objective of a research programme conducted between 2015 and 2018. A first article provided a general overview and a comparison between the practices of traditional societies established in two Indonesian islands, Sumba and Sulawesi (Jeunesse, Denaire 2018). Here, we focus on Sumba, one of the small Sunda islands, located in the south-east of the Indonesian Archipelago (fig. 1). The western part of the island is settled by segmented societies formed by politically independent clans and villages. This area thus constitutes the last place in the world where the "megalithic monument + collective grave" couple can still be observed alive, in the context of still partly animistic societies. Our main field of investigation was the Lolli ethnic group (fig. 2), with, in particular, an exhaustive analysis of the graves in the village of Wesaluri.
Methods: As a reminder, if collective burials documented in ethnohistory can display extremely variable characteristics and functioning modes in detail, what makes their most profund unity is that they are used repeatedly and are intended to gather dead persons deposited on several occasions. At the time they are established, they are planned to receive more dead people later, those being in principle not all dead yet. The other essential common property of collective burials is that in all documented cases they are established to group kin: they gather people being related by consanguinity, affinity or adoption. In archaeology, the recognition of collective burials relies on osteological arguments: a grave is termed ‘collective’ whenever it is possible to demonstrate that all the individuals have not been deposited at one time –which amounts to saying that the grave was used on several occasions (Boulestin / Courtaud Forthcoming).
Grave data was collected in two Lolli villages, Wesaluri and Tambera. Their collection begins with a census of the houses and their clan and lineage affiliation and continues with the study of the connections between the dolmens and the houses (fig. 10). Then comes the systematic investigation lineage by lineage, this social formation being the relevant level for the study of the forms of management of the dolmens and the collective tomb. The interlocutor is generally the head of the lineage, flanked or not by other inhabitants of the village, often traditional priests (rato) whose function implies a good mastery of genealogy. The main lineage of Wesaluri, for example, controls six dolmens, four located in front of the veranda of the ancestors' house (house B), occupied generation after generation by the head of the lineage, the other two located in the rice fields, about 400 m as the crow flies from the house. Before going on to establish the biographies of the dolmens, it is necessary to get as precise an idea as possible of the genealogy of the lineage (fig. 11). House B is the house of the village founder, Pale Poti 1. Our informant in the survey conducted in 2017 was his great-grandson, Toda Mogu Wole. Toda Mogu Wole died in 2018, leaving the chieftaincy to his youngest son, Lukas Lede Toda, accordind to the Lolli's rule of ultimogeniture. It should be noted in passing that the first three lineage chiefs each had two wives.
Genealogy serves as a support for the construction of dolmens' biographies. Dolmen 7, one of the tombs managed by the founding lineage, houses the remains of seven individuals from four distinct generations and continues to be active (fig. 12). It was built on the occasion of the death of the village founder's second wife. Dolmen 6 (fig. 13) was built on the occasion of the death of the second wife of Bura Sele, son of the founder and his successor at the head of the lineage. It also contains the remains of seven individuals from four different generations. The fact that it runs parallel to Dolmen 7 is obviously not without implications. We will come back to this aspect later. This biographical work was carried out in 2017 and 2018 for all the dolmens in the village of Wesaluri, which will be our main source for this article. The exploitation of the data is in progress and we will limit ourselves here to summarizing our first observations. Among the preferred avenues is the exploration of kinship links both within the same dolmen and between the different dolmens managed by the same lineage.
Some results
Dolmen pools: The study of the main lineage of the village of Wesaluri showed that a single lineage used several collective graves in parallel. It is these groupings of collective tombs used simultaneously, and not successively, that we call "pools of dolmens". The system of the pools of dolmens used simultaneously by the same reference group is counter-intuitive with respect to the scheme commonly postulated in research on European Neolithic collective tombs, where it is customary to consider, implicitly, as successive the different dolmens of the same complex that are presumed to belong to the same reference population. Thus, the construction of a new dolmen is considered to be the consequence of the disaffection of the "active" dolmen. Within this paradigm, two dolmens used simultaneously (if we have the means to demonstrate it, which is another matter) will automatically, in a archaeological context, be attributed to two different reference groups. The use of the pool system in Sumba obviously does not allow us to conclude that such a system also existed in the European Neolithic. It simply makes us attentive to a possibility that has so far been little (if ever) taken into account by the specialists of this period.
Hiatus : The study of Neolithic collective tombs shows the existence of hiatuses in the use of the monument that can last several generations, whereas archaeologists generally start from the idea that a collective tomb welcomes all the members of a reference group generation after generation. Such hiatuses also exist in the dolmens of the villages we studied. Highlighting the dolmen pool system allows us to explain where the missing dead are buried, but does not indicate the causes of the hiatuses. The second part of the article is devoted to the study of these causes, in the context of the segmented societies of Sumba.
Kin relationships: The study of kinship ties in the dolmens of Wesaluri remains largely to be done. In this last part, we will limit ourselves to a few general remarks intended to illustrate the complexity of the configurations encountered and the importance of the ethnoarchaeological model we try to elaborate within a more general reflection on the understanding of collective practice in the megalithic cultures of the European Neolithic, with a particular emphasis on the delicate question of the interpretation of the results of palaeogenomic analyses. The preliminary results we present again come from the study of the main lineage of the village of Wesaluri. We have analysed the influence of the pool system on the composition of the various collective graves and the kinship ties between the deceased buried there, and the way in which the kinship ties of the collective graves are conditioned by social organisation in general. But we have also studied the impact on the genetic composition of the collective grave population of rare events such as divorce, individual adoption and the integration of families from other ethnic groups. The ultimate objective will be, in a context where the identity of the deceased and their kinship ties are known, to develop a reference model for a society with patrilineal and patrilocal clans.
This paper presents the first results of an ethnoarchaeological project on the Indonesian island of Sumba, focusing on the study of the practice of collective burials. The aim is to develop reference models that can be used in our studies of European Neolithic societies. As with any ethnoarchaeological approach, the aim is not to provide ready-made solutions, but to enrich the range of possible hypotheses. Three aspects are given special attention in this article: First, the existence of "dolmen pools", i. e. groups of dolmens used simultaneously by the same social group, second, the interpretation of "gaps" in the use of particular megalithic tombs, and third, the contribution of the Sumba data to the understanding of kinship relationships as provided by palaeogenetics. For each of these aspects, we show which social logic the occupation or non-occupation of the dolmens follows. In this way, the "dolmen pool" model can also help in the interpretation of Neolithic burial practices in megalithic graves, which are difficult to explain with the current interpretative approaches.
The writers present in this book a detailed study of the Badegoulian human remains. On the basis of quantification and bone modification analyses, they describe and identify the treatments of the dead. Whereas the general treatment pertains to the practice of cannibalism, more specific ones, focused on the head, can be explained by the crafting of trophies. On the whole, these treatments can be interpreted in a consistent manner by one or several episodes of armed conflicts, begging the question of the possible existence of warfare during the Upper Palaeolithic. Thus, despite the antiquity of the discovery, the Badegoulian human bones from le Placard still constitute a unique assemblage that contributes greatly to our knowledge of the behaviours of hunter-gatherer populations in European prehistory.
Fouillés entre 1928 et 1934 par Marthe et Saint-Just Péquart, Téviec et Hoedic, en Bretagne, ont livré une vingtaine de tombes datant de la fin du Mésolithique et contenant près de quarante individus. Presque un siècle plus tard, ils demeurent les ensembles funéraires les plus importants de cette période découverts en France, et parmi les sites majeurs du Mésolithique français. Mais jusque-là, si une partie des matériels mis au jour avaient été réexaminés, ni les données de terrain ni les restes humains n’avaient fait l’objet d’une révision générale, et toutes les discussions sur le fonctionnement des deux cimetières s’appuyaient sur les anciennes interprétations des Péquart et sur les études anthropologiques de Marcellin Boule et Henri Victor Vallois. Cet ouvrage présente le travail de révision bioarchéologique des sépultures de Téviec et Hoedic qui faisait jusqu’à présent défaut : les données de terrain y sont reconsidérées, en s’appuyant en particulier sur une importante série de photographies prises par les fouilleurs, et le nombre de morts, leur âge et leur sexe y sont réévalués en utilisant des techniques anthropologiques conformes au savoir actuel. Cette révision est également l’occasion d’une réflexion générale sur les regroupements des morts au Mésolithique, ainsi que sur la société des derniers chasseurs-cueilleurs d’Europe atlantique telle qu’elle est perçue à travers le filtre de leurs pratiques funéraires.
This volume comprises the papers presented by prehistorians and ethnologists at the two multi-disciplinary round tables held in Strasburg in May 2014 and May 2015. Their purpose was, with the help of both case studies and more synthetic works, to discuss how the patterns drawn from the observation of ‘living’ megalithic societies have been used to try and shed light on the functioning of European Neolithic societies, the epistemological problems raised by this transposition and the relevance of ethnology-based archeological explanations. The book is composed of three sections: the first one deals with some methodological reflections, the second and third ones with the ‘living’ or recent megalithisms of respectively the Indonesian Archipelago and Ethiopia.
Les monuments mégalithiques du Néolithique européen ont longtemps été considérés comme des copies grossières des réalisations architecturales monumentales des premières civilisations du Proche-Orient et de la Méditerranée orientale. Mais quand le radiocarbone est venu mettre à mal ce modèle diffusionniste, il a bien fallu que les spécialistes s’interrogent sur pour quoi et comment les sociétés néolithiques, traditionnellement considérées comme de modestes « sociétés villageoises », avaient pu ériger de tels ouvrages. Pour répondre à ces questions, le référentiel ethnologique a été régulièrement sollicité, à la recherche d’explications dans le contexte social, politique ou religieux des sociétés actuelles ou subactuelles pratiquant le mégalithisme.
Ce volume regroupe les contributions présentées à l’occasion de deux tables rondes pluridisciplinaires qui se sont tenues à Strasbourg en mai 2014 et mai 2015 et ont réuni des préhistoriens et des ethnologues. Leur objectif était, en s’appuyant à la fois sur des études de cas et sur des travaux plus synthétiques, de s’interroger sur la manière dont les modèles tirés de l’observation des sociétés vivantes « mégalithiques » ont été utilisés pour tenter d’éclairer le fonctionnement des sociétés du Néolithique européen, sur les problèmes épistémologiques que pose cette transposition et sur la pertinence des explications archéologiques proposées sur la base des données ethnologiques. L’ouvrage est divisé en trois parties : la première rassemble des réflexions d’ordre méthodologique, les deux suivantes des interventions consacrées aux mégalithismes « vivants » ou subactuels, de l’archipel indonésien et de Madagascar pour la deuxième, de l’Éthiopie pour la troisième.
The authors provide here the first extensive study of the human remains found at Herxheim, focusing mainly on those recovered during the 2005-2010 excavation campaign. They first examine the field data in order to reconstruct at best the modalities of deposition of these remains. Next, from the quantitative analyses and those of the bone modifications, they describe the treatments of the dead, showing that they actually have been the victims of cannibalistic practices. The nature of this cannibalism is then discussed on the basis of the biological, palaeodemographic and isotopic studies, to come to the conclusion of the existence of an exocannibalism linked to armed violence. Finally, the human remains are replaced in both their local and chronocultural contexts, and a general interpretation of the events that unfolded in Herxheim and of the reasons for the social crisis at the end of the Linear Pottery culture in which they took place is proposed.
(The second page of the pdf file is an order form which entitles to acquire the book with a special 20% discount rate. And I want to stress that I don't get any royalties!)
L'ethnologie a depuis longtemps établi l’existence de chasseurs-cueilleurs présentant des disparités socio-économiques importantes et pouvant être qualifiés de ploutocraties [3]. Cette configuration s’oppose néanmoins au modèle social traditionnellement attribué aux peuples du Paléolithique supérieur. Pour l’archéologie, en effet, les inégalités de richesse ne seraient apparues en Europe que comme une conséquence progressive et plus ou moins lointaine des innovations liées au Néolithique.
Depuis longtemps pourtant, divers indices tels les tombes richement dotées de Sungir ou les cabanes en os de mammouth du pavlovien ont intrigué les chercheurs. Ces dernières années, d’autres éléments potentiellement contradictoires avec le modèle égalitaire semblent s’être accumulés, soit par des découvertes nouvelles, soit par le réexamen d’un matériel déjà connu.
S’il n’est vraisemblablement pas possible en l’état de trancher pour l’une ou l’autre hypothèse, il nous est apparu urgent de procéder à un inventaire critique des données archéologiques (habitats, sépultures, productions techniques et symboliques…) susceptibles d’éclairer cette problématique majeure de l’évolution sociale. C’est tout le sens de cette table ronde qui se propose de réunir des spécialistes reconnus afin de dresser un état des lieux des connaissances, d’en évaluer la pertinence et, dans la mesure du possible, d’envisager de nouvelles pistes d’investigation.