Identity markers: worn on oneself, inscribed in oneself – Third Gaaf’s Rendez-vous

Du Thursday 16 October au Friday 17 October 2025
Musée-Château d'Annecy

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?

Organizing Committee : Franck Gabayet, Inrap/UMR 5138 ArArMagalie Guérit, Inrap/UMR 5138 ArAr Mikaël Rouzic, Inrap/UMR 5199 PACEALaurie Tremblay Cormier, Musée-Château d’Annecy/UMR 7044 ArcHIMèdE/UMR 5138 ArAr

Scientific committee : Vincent Balter, Directeur de recherche CNRS, LGL-TPE, ENS de LyonDavid Billoin, Chargé d’opération et de recherche Inrap, UMR 5140 ASMEmma Bouvard-Mor, Conservatrice du patrimoine DRAC ARA/SRA, UMR 5138 ArArJulian Castelbou, Conservateur du patrimoine, DRAC ARA/SRA, UMR 5138 ArArKatalin Escher, Maîtresse de conférences, Université Cergy Paris, UMR 6298 ArtehisFranck Gabayet, Ingénieur de recherche Inrap, UMR 5138 ArAr Sacha Kacki, Chargé de recherche CNRS, UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de BordeauxFanny Mendisco, Ingénieure de recherche CNRS, UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de BordeauxMikaël Rouzic, Chargé d’opération et de recherche Inrap, UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux

Scientific and financial partners : UMR 5138 ArArMusées d'AnnecyInrapDRAC ARA/SRAEspahs