Awardees

Within a given timeframe, in this case the Middle Ages from the 12th to the 15th centuries, this codicology - experimental paleography and reconstructive archaeology project aims to show the diversity of writings produced and used by men and women in the medieval West. From the point of view of both form and languages used, the aim is to select writings that bear witness to the diversity of medieval Western cultures existing in Europe at the time.

Various types of medieval writings in Latin and/or Hebrew characters will therefore be reproduced in facsimile from identified, known and studied sources.

The Latin and Hebrew scripts used will be French, Iberian or Catalan, English or German. They will enable us to observe the differences between and within these cultural groups.

Produced on parchment or paper, the project will involve the identical reproduction of extracts from 1) volumina for Hebrew liturgical scrolls from northern and southern France, 2) documentary Latin rotuli , 3) literary codices in various formats (from monumental to very small) in Latin and Hebrew, 4) documentary codexes such as Latin or Hebrew registers, 5) documents (charters, staff letters) in Latin and Hebrew.

An innovative, artistic binding will be used to hold together the various manuscript samples that make up the OMMNI. Teaching paleography and the heritage of manuscript know-how will be at the heart of the project.

Direct partners :

• Association Le Garage (Forcalquier)
• Laboratoire France Amériques Espagne - Sociétés Pouvoir Acteurs (FRAMESPA - Toulouse)
• University of Perpignan
• Public libraries and archives

Secondary partners :

• Institute for Research and History of Texts (IRHT - Paris)
• Divided Materials, Interfaces, Reactivity and Electrochemistry Laboratory (MADIREL - Marseille)

The aim of the project is to study private Roman architecture using an approach combining textual analysis and fieldwork, through training and research activities. Our ambition is to deepen our understanding of the vocabulary of private housing by confronting it with data from building archaeology, excavations and the study of collections, based on the site of Saint-Romain-en-Gal, an outlying district of the colony of Vienna, the most northerly of the colonies in Narbonese Gaul.

This project, which brings together two Aix Marseille Université and ARKAIA laboratories, the Centre Camille Jullian and the TDMAM, is based on the launch of a new collaboration with the Museum and archaeological sites of Saint-Romain-en-Gal. Our aim will be to work with the museum to develop an attractive research-based training program, based on Aix Marseille Université's new Archaeology, Science for Archaeology and Humanities masters courses. In addition to training, the project will lead to the organization of international study days in synergy with the Museum's scientific program in 2025 and the Roman Seasons exhibition, which will present the famous Seasons mosaic from Saint-Romain-en-Gal for the first time on site.

Partner(s):

• Saint-Romain-en-Gal Museum and Gallo-Roman sites

2012 saw the publication of Historic Nicosia, edited by Demetrios Michaelides, a remarkable collective work tracing the history of Nicosia from the Neolithic period to the English occupation. This reference volume is a synthesis of research carried out over many years by historians, art historians and archaeologists, putting texts, monuments and relics of material culture into perspective. In the same spirit, but more modestly from a chronological point of view, this international project traces the history of Paphos, a port city in southeastern Cyprus, in the Frankish (1192-1474) and Venetian (1474-1571) eras, based on the joint exploitation of archives from the Lusignan kingdom, the Genoese and the Serenissima, portulans and nautical charts, travelers' accounts, archaeological remains and environmental history.

Partner(s):

• History Research Group (GRHis - Rouen)
• University of Cyprus (Cyprus)
• Institut de recherches et d'histoire des textes (IRHT - Paris)
• French School of Athens
• King's College (London)
• Laboratoire Histoire et sources des mondes antiques (HISOMA - Lyon)
• University of Sydney (Australia)
• Archaeology of Mediterranean Societies Laboratory (ASM - Montpellier)
• Università degli studi di Catania (Italy)
• Department of Antiquities of Cyprus
• University of Zurich (Switzerland)

The aim of this project is to develop an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the impact of man on mountain environments, around the Jujal wetland and Lac Profond in the commune of Orcières, in the Ecrins massif (alt. 2100-2400 m, Hautes-Alpes). The aim is to exploit paleoecological and archaeological data never before available in the Haut Champsaur. Paleoecological data (palynology, geomorphology, paleoentomology and pedoanthracology) will be correlated with the contribution of archaeological sites identified during a high-altitude pedestrian survey. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the impact of human activities on mountain ecosystems, and to propose an interdisciplinary approach on the scale of the European Alps.

This project follows on from a program of partial archaeological survey and study of the Cistercian Abbey of Sénanque, carried out in 2023-2021 as part of restoration work. This work, which had highlighted the potential of an archaeological analysis of the building based on a stone-by-stone survey combining both manual and digital approaches, had enabled us to characterize in detail the organization of the building site, from stone-cutting to implementation, and to specify the progress of the work well beyond the achievements of previous research. The study of the cloister will be based on an interdisciplinary interaction of further archaeological analysis of the building, geological analysis of the building stones, particularly those selected for the sculpture, and a new detailed study of the latter, already initiated in the context of a colloquium paper, which constitutes the most elaborate ensemble in the field of Cistercian monumental decoration in southeastern France today.

Partner(s):

• Montpellier Center for Medieval Studies

How was an ancient Mediterranean ship built? How did they sail? These are the themes addressed in the "All aboard - Discovering ancient naval archaeology" workshop. Using virtual reality and physical models, visitors can dive on a sewn Bronze Age shipwreck, discover the hold and deck of a 6th century BC ship, assemble planks like a real shipwright and, in the end, build their own miniature ancient ship.

We are a team of teacher-researchers at the University of Aix-Marseille, and we have been working on medieval manuscripts for the past ten years, using an interdisciplinary approach (literature & chemistry) that has enabled us to remove many of the grey areas surrounding these ancient objects. Our work initially focused on the Méjanes 1800 manuscript, which contains Petrarch's text Les Remèdes de l'une et l'autre Fortune, in its translation by Jean Daudin. We then studied the manuscript tradition of this text, which led us to carry out missions to Chantilly, Vienna (Austria) and Dresden (Germany): this new research enabled us to learn more about the commissioners of these manuscripts and the miniatures contained in these pages. The initial conclusions of this Research have been put into play in a digital escape game, L'Affaire Pétrarque - Codex et Info(x), with the help of AMU's scientific culture unit, to be completed in 2023. We would now like to present all our Research results in situ, on the very site where our original manuscript is located, a manuscript that would be exhibited at the center of our scenario.

The aim of the project is to carry out an integrated study (micropalaeontology, facies analysis, diagenesis, geochemistry) of the limestones of protohistoric sculptures from the Roquepertuse and La Cloche oppidums (Musée d'Histoire de Marseille). Samples will be taken from the works themselves, as well as from similar outcropping limestones, for microscopic thin sections and isotopic measurements (carbon and oxygen). Petrographic analysis of the thin sections and fieldwork will be carried out as part of an M1 STPE research internship. The aim is 1) to identify extraction sites and material supply circuits, 2) to understand the criteria that led to the choice of materials and 3) to identify robust limestone characterization criteria to help in the reconstruction of sculptures and the search for substitute materials.

Partner(s):

• Musée d'histoire de Marseille
• Interdisciplinary Center for Heritage Conservation and Restoration (CICRP - Marseille)
• Musée Granet (Aix-en-Provence)
• PACA Regional Archaeology Service
• Center des monuments nationaux

Metal seals are characteristic elements of public architecture in ancient Greece. The aim of this project is to set up a research teams bringing together archaeologists, architects and metal scientists to develop a methodology for analyzing these artifacts still in place at archaeological sites, particularly Delphi and Delos.

The ultimate aim, as part of a wider project, will be to provide information on the composition, strength and origin of the metal used in these staples, in relation to the archaeological data available for the buildings studied. This research will help complete a chrono-typological inventory of sealings in the architecture of these two sites.

Partner(s):

• Musée du Louvre (Paris)
• École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Strasbourg (France)

This project will consist of an analysis mission at the Rennes library. The aim will be to begin characterizing a richly illuminated manuscript from the late 15th century, based on paleographic, codicological and physico-chemical studies. This work would thus enrich the corpus we have studied to date.

Our Research is based on a global approach to the manuscript, which is studied as a historical witness, a textual support and a material object. In this way, we aim to shed new light on the organization of Parisian illuminators' workshops in the second half of the 15th century. Such an approach requires close interdisciplinary collaboration between the humanities and materials sciences, i.e. between medievalists and chemists.

Partner(s):

• Interdisciplinary Center for Heritage Conservation and Restoration (CICRP - Marseille)
• Laboratory of Molecular and Structural Archaeology (LAMS - Paris)
• Néel Institute (Grenoble)