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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2018

The metallic hoards in the Bronze and Iron Ages in Brittany, France: old and new discoveries

Résumé

Brittany has always been famous for its Bronze Age metal hoards due to their large size and especially due to Dr Jacques Briard’s research works in the second half of the 20th century. The Bronze Age is seen as the richest period for this region. Some of the hoards are very well known, as for example the Middle Bronze Age hoard of Treboul and the Late Bronze Age Penavern’s hoard of Rosnoën. The various Late Bronze Age hoards of carp’s tongue swords or the numerous Armorican type sock-eted axe hoards of the Iron Age contributed to the region’s renown.The extent of this practice all over Europe and the mystery regarding their function and importance in the society have always fascinated people, archaeologists as well as the general public. This leads to debates concerning the very different the-ories on the role of these hoards. The interpretations sometimes reflect more of the current people’s conception of society than that of our ancestors. However, beyond the exact meaning of these actions, which can be seen step by step at each new excavation or study, what really matters is the fact that this prac-tice is shared by so many people and so many communities over vast distances in Europe. The method of apprehending these hoards has changed gradually: only the object and its origin seemed important at the beginning of research, while in the 21th century the disposition of the artifacts in the ground, as well as the natural and cultural environments or the deposition process became more significant. This change of consideration is also the result of rescue archaeology, which carries out excavations on large areas. It is also worth noting that in recent years, several digs were conducted following metal detections. Due to an important work done by the Regional Service of Archaeology of Brittany, which encourages people to de-clare their discoveries without touching anything, a lot of information could have been saved. But the problem of illegal metal detection remains an issue at Europe-an level as there is a colossal amount of lost data. In the light of old and recent discoveries in Brittany, elements which makes this practice either unique or common in this region will be discussed and replace in a more general Atlantic world’s context.
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Dates et versions

hal-02092323 , version 1 (08-04-2019)

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  • HAL Id : hal-02092323 , version 1

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Muriel Fily, José Gomez de Soto. The metallic hoards in the Bronze and Iron Ages in Brittany, France: old and new discoveries. Connecting Worlds Bronze and Iron Age Depositions in Europe, Apr 2018, Berlin, Germany. ⟨hal-02092323⟩
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