During Iron Ages, the Central and North-West Europe is not a uniform area, many variants emerge and motor centres appear and are replaced by others. These changes are mainly interpreted in terms of trade relations and influence with the Mediterranean world economy. Iron is routinely interpreted as taking an important role in every phase of great upheaval, without having however sufficient archaeological data both in terms of production or trade of ferrous products. The first Iron Age (800-500BC) in Europe is characterised by an aristocracy of very high rank with chariot burials using more and more prestige goods and Mediterranean imports. In the interpretative models, iron is considered driving social hierarchy processes and geostrategic changes in post Bronze Age societies. Contrary to what has been already proposed, there is still no archaeological evidence that may help linking the emergence of first centralized societies to any iron ore exploitation. The hypothetical link between development of social complexity and iron production emerge actually from a convergence between the presence of historical ore mining and the appearance of burials with Mediterranean imports in the same area. More lately, from the 5th century the group Aisne-Marne and the Hunsrück-Eifel-culture, is substituting more in the north the former north-Alpine complex. The disruption of trade routes moves closer centres of political and economic power to early iron production sites. However, it is not possible to formally link the emergence of these new centres with iron production. However, no precise data are available on the trade of iron products in short, medium or long distance. The objective of this program is twofold. It has a methodological orientation in Archaeometry and discusses anthropological and historical issues related to proto-historical periods. The first objective is to exploit, to confront and develop in a complementary way both archaeometric methods for determining the origins of iron products. Indeed, recent methodological development that occurred both in German and French archaeometry laboratories allows now to envisage provenance studies for ferrous and steel archaeological artifacts. This is a real breakthrough for the issues related to Iron Age societies. The second objective is, by applying these methods, to address the two chronological periods of the Iron ages evocated previously and bring a renewed vision of trade relations and of the role of iron in each of the major changes occurring in these periods. For this, we address a specific set of archaeological material on which will be applied innovative methods for determining the origins developed in France and Germany. The archaeometric methods developed by the two teams are based on the determination of trace element chemical and isotopic (Osmium) signature of production area. Thus in a first step, this signature will be followed in ore, archaeological slag and other wastes of the operating chains found on the sites of potential production areas linked to the issue; i.e. Lorraine, Baden Wuerttemberg, Sénonais, Pays de Bray, West Bavaria. In a second step, we will analyze the chemical signature of two types of objects characteristics of these periods: bipyramidal ingots preferentially distributed in the geographical area of the northern Alps complex and tires of chariot burials representatives of ostentatious funeral deposit zones.

European incursions onto the narrow isthmian pass that divided and connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans made it a strategic node of the Spanish Empire and a crucial site for early modern globalization. On the front lines of the convergence of four continents, Old Panama offers an unusual opportunity for examining the diverse, often asymmetrical impacts of cultural and commercial contacts. The role of Italian, Portuguese, British, Dutch, and French interests in the area, as well as an influx of African slaves and Asian merchandise, have left a unique material legacy that requires an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to its varied sources. Bones, teeth and artifacts on this artery of Empire offer the possibility of new insights into the cultural and biological impact of early globalization. They also invite an interdisciplinary approach to different groups’ tactics for survival, including possible dietary changes, and the pursuit of profit. Such strategies may have led the diverse peoples inhabiting this junction, from indigenous allies to African and Asian bandits to European corsairs, to develop and to favor local production and Pacific trade networks at the expense of commerce with the metropolis. This project applies historical, archaeological and archaeometric methodologies to evidence of encounters between peoples and goods from Europe, America, Africa and Asia that took place on the Isthmus of Panama during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Forging an interdisciplinary approach to early globalization, it challenges both Euro-centric and Hispano-phobic interpretations of the impact of the conquest of America, traditionally seen as a demographic catastrophe that reached its nadir in the so-called seventeenth-century crisis. Rather than applying quantitative methods to incomplete source material, researchers will adopt a contextualized, inter-disciplinary, qualitative approach to diverse agents involved in cultural and commercial exchange.

The aim of the project is to contribute to the understanding of the economic, social, artistic and technological development of the continental part of the Western Latène Culture (mid 5th-1rst centuries BC) through the study of the production and consumption of gold objects. This culture of the Late Iron Age, cross-bordering a large part of the European continent and the British Isles, is characterized by new social and economic dynamics leading to foreign contacts (trade, mercenary, individual mobility…), more precisely with the Mediterranean, and migration phenomena of the Celtic population. The new context is visible through metal working, style and technology. This period is crucial for the development of the Celtic art, which finds its most important expression in gold work. It also marks the starting point of coinage, with new exchange systems and new access to the raw material gold (with minting Greek, Carthaginian, Celtic and finally Roman coins). Apart of the emergence of coin use, furthermore intense gold mining, in particular in the Limousin area, brings an innovative point into gold studies. We intend to study the social dynamics and hierarchies, combined with craft specialization during the Latène period by mainly investigating prestige objects, except coins, from rich burial sites and hoards. Our geographical focus will mainly concern Germany, France and Benelux, but also Switzerland. Fine metal work is especially suitable to reveal traditions and local innovations as well as foreign influences and exchange networks in arts and crafts. It shows the mobility of people, objects and ideas. The strength of the project is in the international collaboration of German and French scientists and in their interdisciplinary excellence in archaeology, archaeometry, technology and experimental archaeology. It is also based on new laboratory equipment allowing innovative high precision observations and material analyses. We intend to take into account all aspects of Late Iron Age fine metal work for the first time: from the raw material, covering the transformation into artefacts, their artistic creation, utilization and distribution, until to the final deposition and finally the archaeological discovery. In addition we take into account coins, in particular those found associated with fine metal work, for their information about material composition, probable raw material provenance and the their economic value. These observations will be integrated into a wider socio-economic and technological context in order to enlighten changes in stylistic traditions and technologies of luxury objects in relation to the socio-economic organization of the Latène period for a discussion of historical, archaeological and theoretical interpretations.

Few parts of Europe witnessed so many population shifts in a few centuries as the Carpathian Basin in 400-900 CE. In this macro-region along the middle Danube, Pannonians, Romans, Goths, Gepids, Longobards, Avars, Bulgars, Slavs, Franks and many others came and went. This is an intriguing test case for the relationship between ethnic identities constructed in texts, cultural habitus attested in the archaeological record, and genetic profiles that can now be analysed through ancient DNA. What was the impact of migrations and mobility on the population of the Carpathian Basin? Was the late antique population replaced, did it mix with the newcomers, or did its descendants only adopt new cultural styles? To what degree did biological distinctions correspond to the cultural boundaries and/or ethnonyms in the texts? If pursued with methodological caution, this case study will have implications beyond the field. HistoGenes will analyse c. 6,000 samples from graves with cutting edge scientific methods, and contextualize the interpretation of these data in their archaeological and historical setting. The rapid progress of aDNA analysis and of bio-informatics now make such an enterprise viable. However, the methods of historical interpretation have not kept pace. HistoGenes will, for the first time, unite historians, archaeologists, geneticist, anthropologists, and specialists in bio-informatics, isotope analysis and other scientific methods. Many team members have already collaborated successfully in a pilot project, which has demonstrated the feasibility of the approach and of the integrated workflow at the core of the project. A wide range of particular historical questions will be addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective, and fundamental theoretical and methodological issues can be explored. HistoGenes will not only advance our knowledge about a key period in European history, but also establish new standards for the historical interpretation of genetic data.