The call for papers for the 4th Gaaf Rendez-vous around the cremation practices in Gaul is now open!

The conference will be held in Caen (France), at the Maison de la Recherche en Sciences Humaines, 11 and 12 March 2026.

Cremation burials in the early medieval Gaul are traditionally regarded either as the occasional survival of ancient funerary practices, or as evidence of contact with Germanic groups. The few early medieval cremation burials found in Frankish Gaul are either often ignored or undervalued, reinforcing a limited and biased understanding of funerary practices in the early Middle Ages. This approach is based more on disciplinary and technical issues than historical ones. However, the evolution of the archaeology discipline, together with the increasing use of radiocarbon dating, have led to the identification of a growing corpus of early medieval cremations, prompting a reassessment of this practice and  its reconsideration as an integral part of early medieval funeral rites.

This Gaaf Rendez-vous aims to be a time for reflection and cross-disciplinary discussions over two days: the first day will be devoted to case-study and regional synthesis presentations, followed by a half-day of discussions aimed at producing a comprehensive overview of cremation practices in early medieval Frankish Gaul.

Deadline open call: 26 October 2025, to caen2026@gaaf-asso.fr

Further details about the event and the call for papers can be found in the attached document.

The programme and registration for the Rendez-vous are now available!

You can register by following the link to the HelloAsso website or using the QR code.

Meeting theme
Following on the excavation carried out Avenue des Romains, in Annecy (France), a research project entitled “The western cemetery of Boutae, a Burgundian settlement in Annecy (Haute-Savoie)”, and led by M. Rouzic and F. Gabayet, started in 2022. Built upon the results of the excavation, this project aims to question the establishment of a cemetery by and for the Burgundians from the middle of the 5th century CE.

The outstanding assemblages uneathered at 39 and 41 Avenue des Romains, respectively in 2014 and 2016, have given rise to an exhibition planned at the Musée-Château d’Annecy between 6 June and 31 October 2025. The exhibition, entitled “The Burgundian epic. The birth of Middle Ages in Haute-Savoie”, traces the history of the Burgundian people from the first kingdom in Worms to the territory of Sapaudia, via the ancient vicus of Boutae.

As part of the exhibition, researchers from a variety of backgrounds will be invited to discuss what makes the peoples of the 5th-7th centuries so unique, what kind of ‘markers’ archaeologists can explore to better understand these communities of the past. This one-day workshop will focus on the individual and what makes their identity within a group and a people. With the aim to bring a different perspective on the topic, this initiative will also addressed issues such as worn items (clothing, artefacts, jewellery, etc.), as well as biological markers, such as aDNA and dietary and mobility isotopes. All of them aiming to highlight the singularities of what constitutes individual identity and social identity.

To what extent can these cultural and biological identity markers be used to distinguish the peoples of the barbaricum? Or is the geopolitical reality too complex to decide?

Since its foundation, the Gaaf’s life is punctuated by the organisation of an annual thematic meeting. Beside those conferences, the association invites now its members and supporters to take part to more informal workshops: the Rendez-vous. To launch them, the Gaaf joined ANR MAGI program in 2016 to organize two workshops and a symposium on the following theme:

Eat, drink, adorn, perfume for the eternity. Biological offerings to the dead from the Neolithic to the modern time.

November 10, 2016: Workshop at Bretagne Sud University (Lorient): Aromatic substances, cosmetics and magical-medicinal for the dead (Download the program).

March 10, 2017: Workshop at Aix-Marseille University: The funerary banquet and food offerings (Download the program).

November 15-16, 2018: Conference at La Rochelle University: The flower, the pig, the bottle and the corpse: ecofacts and artefacts in funerary scenography (Download the program).

Scientific presentation

In archaeology, funerary rituals are always complex to grasp, to reconstruct and to understand. The work undertaken on this theme several decades ago has revealed the complexity of ceremonies where the creation of the grave is only a stage. Other phases of the ritual, such as the preparation of the body, the treatment of remains from the pyre in the event of a cremation, funerary and commemoration rituals, are often poorly documented while organic substances rarely stand the test of time. Among these, the biological offerings (vegetal/floral, food, cosmetics, aromatics, medicines, magic therapeutics) create many identification and interpretation issues in the funerals or commemorations. The manipulation, the consumption, the deposit of materials and biological products in the form of libation, the ornamentation (flower carpet, vegetal wreaths, etc.) punctuate the funerals and celebrations, with a codified gesture where liquids like tears, blood, milk, wine, oil, perfume, flow for the dead, while the food offerings can be very diverse (raw or cooked eggs, bread, pancakes, raw or cooked birds, pieces of meat, stews, etc.). Sometimes terracotta versions symbolically replace the real food while some perfume bottles deposited in the grave could have always been empty, as evidenced by different content analysis campaigns. Many of the deposits belong to the biological sphere. Their identification is a challenge met for several decades through interdisciplinary work. The limits of the indiscernible are thus disappearing thanks to new interdisciplinary protocols. Beyond the identification of biological substances, this scientific meeting focuses on their preparation, the actions associated with the deposit and the staging of funerary places.

Litterature, epigraphy and iconography will be crossed with archaeological and archeometric sources in order to reach a better understanding of the place of the materials and biological substances in the funerary practices, from the Neolithic to the modern time.

The papers given during these three scientific events will be published in 2025.

The communication proposals for the November conference (title, abstract and presentation of the author) must be send before September 15, 2018 to this address:

colloquelarochelle2018@gmail.com

Organizing committee: Dominique Frère (UBS, Témos), Laurent Hugot (CRHIA, ULR), Solenn de Larminat (research associate CCJ), Laurence Tranoy (LIENSs, ULR).

For further information: colloquelarochelle2018@gmail.com