Awardees

The project aims to bring together a team of historians, archaeologists, palynologists and chemists to work on traditional beekeeping in the Mediterranean over the long term, and mainly in the ancient and medieval periods. By combining field, archival and laboratory research on the practice of beekeeping in terracotta hives, the aim is to be able to set up protocols that will enable us to work on the environment in which this beekeeping was practiced.

Partner(s):

• Institute for Research and Studies on the Arab and Muslim World (IREMAM - Aix-en-Provence)

The project is a continuation of previous inventory campaigns, and a necessary complement to the creation of as complete a catalog as possible of granite column shafts of ancient origin, and a map of their distribution within and beyond the Roman Empire. The combination of analysis of the geological origin of individual shafts or shaft fragments and archaeological contextualization will enable a better appreciation of secondary post-Antique movements and strategies for their re-use in the medieval and modern periods. Sicily and Calabria are particularly rich in granite shafts, with the particularity of the presence of a local quarry at Nicotera, whose visit is one of the objectives of the mission. The richness and originality of the medieval history of this area, where the vast majority of shafts are reused and transported from medieval times, allows us to address the question of the flow of prestigious materials at this time, in a major hub of Mediterranean maritime routes, in particular around the Strait of Messina.

Partner(s):

• Università di Catania (Italy)
• Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche (Pisa, Italy)
• Istituto nazionale di geofisica e vulcanologia (Rome, Italy)
• Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" (Italy)
• Università degli studi di Palermo (Italy)
• Accademia di Belle Arti di Catanzaro (Italy)

The wreck of Zambratija (Istria, Croatia) is, to date, the archaeological evidence of the oldest sewn ship in the Mediterranean, without comparison in ancient Adriatic and Mediterranean shipbuilding.

The ZADIG project aims to combine the skills of the Centre Camille Jullian and the Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale to answer the chronological questions posed by the Zambratija wreck; to test the vulnerability of this archaeological heritage; to experiment with a non-destructive method of acquiring dendrochronological data on waterlogged wood using a resistograph.

Partner(s):

• Centro di fisica applicata, datazione e diagnostica (CEDAD - Brindisi, Italy)
• Center de datation par le radiocarbone (CDRC) of the Archéologie et archéométrie laboratory (ArAr - Lyon)

The project aims to establish a chronological and methodological framework for studying the relationships between societies and water in the upper reaches of the Argens River (Var), in an area exceptional for the chronological longevity and spatial continuity of travertine formations and associated wetlands. It will combine a geomorphological approach, archaeological synthesis and surveys from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages, archival studies, characterization of the recording potential of the environmental variability of the travertines using sedimentological, paleoecological, geochemical and isotopic methods, and tests of 14C and U/Th dating methods. In this way, it will seek to reconstruct the interweaving of societal and natural factors in the construction of landscapes, the increasing weight of uses and developments of alluvial bottoms, and the resilience to environmental change of the resulting socio-hydrosystems.

Partner(s):

• Laboratoire Temps, espaces, langages, Europe méridionale, Méditerranée (TELEMMe - Aix-en-Provence)
• Center archéologique du Var (Toulon)
• Maison régionale de l'eau (Barjols)
• Syndicat mixte de l'Argens
• Municipality of Saint-Maximin

As part of the SyLitMéd program coordinated by LA3M, the SigLitMéd project aims to develop a team tool for recording and producing cartographic data at different scales, and to strengthen interdisciplinary cross-disciplinary approaches to the "historical geography" of medieval coastal areas in the north-western Mediterranean in the 8th-12th centuries. This tool will take the form of a geographic database (GIS)
based on the open-source QGIS software and accessible to all SyLitMed program participants.

The project will involve the compilation of historiographic data (coastal paleoenvironments, cartographic, cadastral, archaeological and historical sources). The operation of the GIS prototype will be tested in two privileged survey windows in Provence (Gulf of Fos / Martigues) and Roussillon (Argelès-sur-Mer / Collioure coastal area).

The ambition of the NOFUN project is to bring together an interdisciplinary team to consider the causes, modalities and archaeological manifestations of non-funerary treatments of the deceased, by studying on the one hand those deceased who did not benefit from funerary rites, and on the other those who benefited from funerals but whose remains were the subject of positive or negative post-funerary treatments - two types of situation that risk being confused in an archaeological context.

It comprises five problematic axes that question the articulation between the treatment of the corpse and the consideration given to individuals: 1. non-funerary deposits within funerary ensembles; 2. rituals for transforming a non-funerary burial site into a sepulchre; 3. delayed funerary calendars; 4. Funeral treatment in the absence of a body; 5. Post-funeral treatments. The aim here is to mobilize all the criteria and methods developed by archaeothanatology, which will be confronted with historical and anthropological sources to propose new interpretative reading keys. Eventually, an ANR project will be submitted.

Partner(s):

• Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (French national institute for preventive archaeological research)
• Laboratoire d'archéologie médiévale et moderne en Méditerranée (LA3M - Aix-en-Provence, France)
• Archaeology of Mediterranean Societies Laboratory (ASM - Montpellier)
• Laboratoire De la Préhistoire à l'actuel : culture, environnement et anthropologie (PACEA - Bordeaux)
• Interdisciplinary Research Center for Human and Social Sciences (CRISES - Montpellier)

For the past ten years, a team from CCJ, LAMPEA, CEREGE and IRAA has been studying the Galermi aqueduct, which has supplied the city of Syracuse and its surrounding area since ancient times. The peculiarity of the system is that it runs entirely underground, some 28km in length, and has been modified over time to ensure its continued existence.

After studying the layout diachronically and multi-disciplinarily, the team concentrated on the topographical survey of the gallery, in particular thanks to the 3D survey. But the exercise is limited by the irregularity and dangerousness of the pipe, which is often clogged and submerged at various levels. It has to be run dry, and some parts are inaccessible to humans, even though they could be covered by a drone.

The aim of the CCJ's collaboration with ISM is to initiate a first collaboration with robotics researchers to identify suitable tools for prospecting and surveying in underground and submerged environments.

The VIGUEIRAT project aims to exploit a batch of environmental and archaeological data acquired between 2022 and 2023 on an unpublished Roman site recently discovered in the Marais du Vigueirat nature reserve, between Arles and Fos-sur-Mer. Geoarchaeological and archaeometric analyses will be carried out to characterize the relationship between Roman-period man-made structures (5 ha of pebble pavement, delimiting a 40 ha site) and a paleochannel of the Rhône, active in ancient times, whose layout and geometry evoke the famous Marius canal, designed according to sources to link the Gulf of Fos to the river, avoiding the sandy mouths of the delta.

The analyses will be decisive for the interpretation of the site, which is not obvious on the basis of archaeological data alone. They will complete the corpus of results acquired since 2020, with a view to the first scientific publications in national and international journals. The aim is to produce 1) an initial assessment of the site's state of knowledge, as expected by the archaeological community; 2) a synthesis integrating the cumulative results of geomorphological (core drilling) and geophysical analyses of the paleochannel and its environment, on the eastern edge of the Rhône delta. Finally, the Vigueirat sector will be one of the case studies selected for a more ambitious project.

Partner(s):

• Image, City, Environment Laboratory (LIVE - Strasbourg)

The study of archaeological organic matter (AOM) remains an analytical challenge, not only because of its wide variety in terms of chemical nature and biological origin, but also because of its often complex original formulation and capacity to degrade. In the age of Big Data and AI, the automated processing of samples of this type, which generate complex data sets during their analysis, is a necessity. In this context, metabolomics, the most recent of the "omics" sciences, is the analytical approach of choice, as it offers a holistic vision both at the scale of each sample, aiming to study the entire metabolome, and also at the level of the panel of samples analyzed, through a global and automated study.

This project aims to develop metabolomic approaches applicable to various analytical techniques (GC-MS, LC-MS, SFC-MS) and specifically dedicated to archaeological samples (resins, sediments, bones...) from ongoing projects by the various partners (IMBE, CEREGE, LAMPEA). It will also help federate skills in molecular archaeometry at regional level.

Since 2018, as part of an ANR-funded research program led by IRAA, a multidisciplinary team has been studying the rocks used in the ancient monuments of Delos. This small island in the Cyclades was reputed to be the birthplace of the god Apollo. The city of Delos flourished thanks to its great sanctuary, and was endowed with monumental finery of the highest quality, built with local or imported stone. The aim of this study is to determine the origin of these stones by analyzing the rocks used and the rocks from the island's quarries, to quantify the materials extracted and to analyze how each type of stone was used at different periods in the island's history.

To disseminate the results of this Research, an exhibition for the general public will open at the Villa Kerylos (Beaulieu-sur-Mer), itself built on the model of a Delienne house.