From Grave Robbery to Archaeology: Reconstructing Merovingian France

Speaker: Bonnie Effros

By far the most plentiful remains we possess of the early Middle Ages are the objects that contemporaries regularly placed in the graves of deceased relations and other associates. Most items chosen for burial were not made with this end in mind, but were instead adapted to this purpose because of a connection they were perceived as having with the dead. In some cases, the objects may have belonged to the dead or surviving family members; in other instances, the personal link may have been more tenuous as comes to mind in extraordinary statements such as that made in the burial of kings. In this presentation, Dr. Effros will provide as background some reference to the history of the excavation of burial artifacts and then proceed with a discussion of the way in which these archaeological and human remains have been interpreted, particularly with reference to ethnic and gender identity. She will also address some of the tensions that exist between written and archaeological sources related to early medieval burial practice and how this has affected our understanding of the eventual relinquishment of artifact deposition in Merovingian Gaul in the late seventh century.

Bonnie Effros is the Rothman Chair in the Humanities, Director of the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, and Professor of History at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She specializes in early medieval history and archaeology, the history of European archaeology with a focus on France, and the American collecting of early medieval artifacts. Professor Effros has excavated at Tel Haror, Israel, at an Augustinian priory at Haverfordwest in Wales, and at the basilique of Saint-Denis in France.

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