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SUMMARY:What mineralised textiles tell us about the Iron Age burial site a
 t Creney... and about the future of advanced instrumentation in archaeolog
 y - Loic Bertrand (ENS Paris-Saclay)
DTSTART:20250523T121500Z
DTEND:20250523T130000Z
UID:TALK231679@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Qin-Qin Lü
DESCRIPTION:In recent years\, we have been studying textile finds from the
  Iron Age site of Creney-le-Paradis in France. A total of 99 textile fragm
 ents\, ranging in size from millimetric to centimetric\, have been identif
 ied. These were analyzed using conventional methods as well as an innovati
 ve protocol combining synchrotron 3D microtomography with advanced data pr
 ocessing. This approach has enabled a comprehensive survey of the textiles
  found in the funerary context\, confirming the elite status of the burial
 \, and placing it on par with the far better documented sites of Vix or La
 vau. The study of Creney-le-Paradis is particularly iconic due to the site
 's troubled history. Early excavations\, likely conducted in the 19th cent
 ury\, resulted in incomplete and scattered remains. A salvage excavation w
 as carried out in the late 1980s\, but soon after\, the site was destroyed
  to make way for a motorway junction. The archaeological importance of the
  site was only fully recognized later. Beyond the positivist contribution 
 of advanced instrumentation to the study of archaeological remains\, we ar
 gue that this research exemplifies the challenges faced in many archaeolog
 ical studies. Archaeological investigations often deal with heterogeneous\
 , altered\, and statistically limited material\, requiring a combination o
 f analytical strategies to extract the maximum amount of information. Rath
 er than being peripheral obstacles\, these challenges are central to the a
 nalytical process and can be leveraged to refine methodologies. In particu
 lar\, we will discuss how incompleteness can be integrated into instrument
 ation thinking by appropriately coupling physico-chemical methods with sta
 tistical data analysis.\n\nBio\n\nLoïc Bertrand is a senior researcher in
  the Chemistry Department at École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay. His 
 research explores long-term aging processes\, the exceptional preservation
  of biological remains and archaeological materials\, historical manufactu
 ring techniques\, and the provenance of materials used in ancient artifact
 s. He specialises in developing multiscale photonic methodologies\, with a
  particular focus on synchrotron-based techniques\, working closely with i
 nstrumentalists and data scientists to advance analytical approaches.
LOCATION:Seminar Room\, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research\, D
 owning Site
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