Sessions

SESSION 1 – The Bronze Age in Corsica and Sardinia, a question of insular violence and social instability

Since the first research centred on Corsica in the middle of the 20th century, archaeological evidence reveals that the island suffered from a certain social instability during the 2^nd millennium BC. This theory has emerged from the study of architecture, finds and art mainly from the valleys to the south of the island. In a landscape that lies between the coast and the mountains, competition between small groups for economic control of the area seems to come to a head during the Bronze Age in parallel to the setting up of networks to procure raw materials from the outside (tin, amber, glass, etc.). The elites, who managed distribution and storage, have been repeatedly held responsible for this situation, even though it is difficult to perceive if this is more of a motif or a consequence of the process. The complicated phenomenon is locally evident at several levels. The multiplication of the casteddi (fortified settlements) and torre (stone granaries) is one of the main illustrations. Their study has highlighted the intensity of the conflicts and the economic issues they imply. The appearance of the armed menhir statues also reflect social tensions, which indicates the rise of the status of the warrior within the insular groups. The analysis of funerary contexts, deposits and the rare preserved weapons makes it possible to perceive a social environment tinted of daily belligerence. But is this really the case?

SESSION 2 – Attack, parry and fight back: warfare technique

This session aims to go beyond the presentation of research pertaining to the technological expertise and the typology of offensive and defensive metal weapons to concentrate on the practical and functional aspects of warrior equipment in an area from Scandinavia to Egypt and from the Atlantic coast to the Near East. For example, ballistic (impact wounds observed on anthropological remains) and impact marks analyses (on specific parts of equipment) have contributed to recent progress on individual combat techniques. The findings reveal that weapons were not always used in the way that had been initially imagined. Similarly, the functional study of hafting systems and range of the weapons can provide information on the fighters’ position and the moves they could make and the blows they could inflict to dodge, disarm, injure or kill their opponent. With the study of iconography, the question of the handling of figurative weapons also arises: were the breastplates, swords and halberds really used in battle or were they for purely ceremonial purposes, worn in burial or during hunting.

Conversely, could tools such as axes or masses be used as opportunistic or institutionalised weapons? We would also like to focus on how the weapon is carried and its status as a personal object, how it is handled, cared for and transported using the study of baldrics, scabbards and quivers, either real or figurative. Lastly, we aim to discuss "war machines" such as wagons, which appear in the eastern Mediterranean during the Bronze Age.

SESSION 3 – Attack or defend a stronghold: collective strategies of poliorcetics and battle

Fortifications occupy a prominent place in the landscape of the European and Mediterranean Bronze Age. These works, whether made from earth, wood or dry stone, are in most cases interpreted as centres of power, being the ostentatious head of a system that manages, controls and dominates territories. The enclosure itself acts as a protective wall, but also provides a clear spatial boundary between different designated spaces. Special attention will be paid to the military dispositions of these places and the ways of circumventing or defending them. This session will also focus on testimonies of assault (including raids, looting, fires and destruction of inhabited spaces) and other information relating to poliorcetics, particularly pertaining to collective strategies. This session can also include papers on battlefields, land or sea: what are the elements that characterise them and are there specific places where armed violence has taken place during this period in time?

SESSION 4 – From symbolism to ideology of individual and social violence

This session aims to address the sphere of violence from a symbolic and statutory point of view, through testimonies relating to power, to individual and collective strength and to their representation. Who makes war? What is the warrior’s status in these societies? Were there mercenaries? Is violence the prerogative of man? What is the link between violence and power? Is power phallocratic in the Bronze Age? Can the weapon be a warrior's synecdoche? We will aim to confront the sources using interpretive models at an individual and / or societal level.