Glozel in the history of French archaeology

The year 2024 marks the centenary of the discovery of Glozel (Ferrières-sur-Sichon, Allier) which opened one of the most prestigious events in the history of French archaeology.

If the recent archaeological record is brought up and enriched[1]resolving a longstanding dispute, the history of the events that led to it has yet to be written.

To interrogate these different realities, the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes wanted to organize an international conference on this topic in partnership with the French Archives and the Société d’émulation du Bourbonnais.

This event will take place from December 12 and 13, 2024 at the Vichy University Center (Allier).

The proposed communication, covering a large disciplinary area, will make it possible to mobilize new sources and deal with the intellectual, social and political dimensions of the issue. Therefore, by retracing the history of the events that took place on the site between 1924 and 1932 it is likely that an extremely dense core will be investigated, including a problem that overwhelms the history of scientific discipline – prehistoric archeology – on the history of the institutions which have the various functions of monitoring it. to use To do this, we need to review the vitality of the buried debates, bring the power of questions to the surface, the violence of discussions, multiple questions: in short, to start again. from within the thread of arguments and requests about which conflicts and compromises were created. This is why the history of Glozel cannot exist without a priority effort to understand the context in which the transaction crystallized.

For almost twenty years, researchers from different backgrounds have provided themselves with ways to overcome the problems arising from immediate historiography and a simple statement of the truth in the attempt of Glozel’s history to “damage”.

As part of this conference, around twenty speakers from different backgrounds (archaeology, history, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, etc.) will try to continue and expand this animation , going back through the causes and consequences to write the program in a long process. , closely related to the development of archaeological science.

The conference will be held over a day and a half and will be divided into three sessions. 6 to 8 communications lasting 20 min. followed by 5 min. exchanges with the audience, enriching the debates. Each session will be followed by a plenary discussion.

The topics chosen for each session are as follows:

1. Glozel sources: collections and archival funds.
2. Glozel and Prehistory: intellectual and institutional construction(s).
3. Glozel reveals social history: sociology(s), historical trajectory(s) and collective imagination(s) in the 1920s.

The number of places available is limited to 140. However, video recording of the dialogue and debates will be made with a view to posting them online.

Download the program:

[1] J. Guilaine, D. Miallier (dir.), Glozel. Results of research carried out between 1983 and 1990 at the request of the Ministry of Culture, Terra Mater Collection, n ° 4, Blaise-Pascal University Press, Clermont-Ferrand, 2023., 320 p.