Lehoërff - Movement, Exchange and Identity in Europe in the 2nd and 1st Millennia BC

Published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by

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Front cover: Anne Lehorff for BOAT 1550 BC.

The political vocabulary of Europe in the early part of the 21st century has resonated with themes of boundary and difference, of boundaries between states, concepts of them and us, a concern to resist change, to maintain the status quo . The concerns of today do not reflect the nature of the long sweep of European history, however. Archaeologists and historians have long known about the ebb and flow of people as they moved across the continent over the millennia, of the ever-changing and porous borders between groups of people, the exchange of goods, ideas and the evolution of identities over time.

More particularly, the integration of professional archaeological research into the planning legislation of many European countries since the Valetta Convention for the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage of Europe in 1992 has resulted in an explosion of new knowledge about our European ancestors and the way they lived their lives. It was the recognition of the implications of this new data for the close maritime connections between peoples living in the Transmanche zone of northwestern Europe during the Bronze Age around 3500 years ago that led to the creation of the European project Boat 1550 BC project in 2011. The project sought to bring together this new evidence of the strong ancient cultural links between the peoples of the region and present it to a wider audience. It brought together seven partners from three countries: the University of Lille 3/Maison europenne de lhomme et de la socit de Lille, the Institut National de Recherches Archologiques Preventives (INRAP), the Dpartement du Pas-de-Calais and the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer from France, the Canterbury Archaeological Trust and Canterbury Christ Church University from England, and Ghent University from Belgium. It was financially supported by the European Union Interreg IV A 2 Mers Seas Zeen programme and the Conseil rgional du Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

It was in the context of the Boat 1550 BC project that a major academic conference was planned in collaboration with APRAB (lAssociation pour la Promotion des Recherches Archologiques sur lge du Bronze) that brought together academic and professional archaeologists from all over Europe (and beyond) to discuss the new discoveries and research into the connections between people in the past. Its remit went beyond the study of the Transmanche zone and indeed the Bronze Age, but instead extended right across Europe, reflecting on a period of two millennia, from the middle of the 3rd millenium BC to the middle of the 1st millenium BC. The conference was held on 35 October 2012 at the Universit du Littoral in the beautiful historic town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.

The proceedings of the conference are a co-production of Oxbow Books and APRAB, with the financial support of the Ministre de la Culture et de la communication, INRAP, and the UMR (Unit Mixte de Recherche) 8164 Halma.

The conference organisers would like to thank The Universit du Littoral, the Centre de la Mer Nausicaa, and the service archologique de la Ville de Boulogne for their assistance and the warm welcome extended to this international symposium.

Thanks should also go to the conference steering committee for their work in making the conference a success; Sylvie Boulud, Peter Clark, Alain Henton, Isabelle Kerouanton, Thibault Lachenal, Emmanuelle Leroy-Langelin, Armelle Masse, Claude Mordant, Pierre-Yves Milcent, Thophane Nicolas, Brendan OConnor and Rebecca Peake.

Peter Clark, Mark Duncan and Jane Elder of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust are also acknowledged for their help in bringing this volume to publication.

Taken together, these varied contributions offer a new and different perspective on the relationships between the peoples of Europe in the distant past, a perspective that we hope will find a wide audience and help inform all about the prehistoric context of our modern world and our appreciation of European identity today.

Lastly, we pause to remember and celebrate the lives of two outstanding scholars of European prehistory who have recently passed away; Richard Darrah, perhaps best known for his ground-breaking work on the Dover Bronze Age boat, and Colin Burgess, whose magisterial command of the European Bronze Age inspired generations of archaeologists. We hope this volume represents a modest tribute to their outstanding contribution to our knowledge of Europes ancient history.

Anne Lehorff

There are three kinds of men: the living, the dead and those who sail the sea
Quote attributed to: Aristote, Plato or Anacharsis

Keywords: mobility, exchange, frontiers, Bronze Age, identities

The Europe of ancient oral societies, before Classical Antiquity, is sometimes perceived as a closed world, stable immobile even. This widespread perception, inherited from 19th century historiography and nourished by classical texts such as the Gallic War by Julius Caesar, seeks to limit the people of these bygone times to their birth places, when not conjuring up an image of their all too miserable way of life. However, nothing is less true than the idea of static communities over the millennia of Protohistory, from the Neolithic to the end of the Metal Ages (Lehorff 2009; 2011).