study day : Man faced with natural risks in antiquity: fatalism, adaptation, resilience AAP MSH Bx 2022

December 16, 2022 , MSH Bordeaux Salle Jean Borde, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Organizers : Laurence Cavalier (Professor of art history and archeology of the ancient Greek world, Bordeaux Montaigne University, Ausonius UMR 5607) and Camille Culioli (Doctoral student in geoarchaeology, Bordeaux Montaigne University, Ausonius UMR 5607)

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During Antiquity, societies knew how to take advantage of environmental resources to establish their buildings, their infrastructures and to best exploit the potential of the environments they occupied. These environments, although deemed favorable, sometimes represented threats to their occupants who found themselves exposed to risks and natural disasters (tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, avalanches, etc.). Ancient societies then had to develop means to protect themselves against these risks, to face them and to recover from their effects: they had to adapt to them. This question of adaptation to risks echoes the concerns of current societies facing an unprecedented environmental crisis. Scientific disciplines dedicated to the past – archaeology, geomorphology and history – are interested in the study of risks and adaptation by examining environmental archives as well as archaeological and societal facts.

By bringing together various specialists in these issues, this study day aims to highlight the diversity of past risks (submersion, earthquake, flooding, siltation, silting, etc.), the different responses of societies and their capacity to adapt (withdrawal, changes in occupation and relationships with the territory, developments, etc.). The communications will concern different countries and regions (Danube, Turkey, Greece, France, Italy, etc.), occupations and specific geographical spaces (port, sanctuary, delta, river, estuary, etc.), which will make it possible to better understand the multiplicity of issues and responses of ancient societies to environmental changes and risks;

The historical depth provided by these studies of the past will also be an opportunity to question the present management of adaptation and to try to draw lessons for the future.

Download the program (pdf)

Consult the program:

Reception of participants (9 a.m.-9:30 a.m.)

Keynote:
9:30 a.m.-10:10 a.m.: “Environmental risks and societies: From hunter-gatherers to industrial civilization!” », Eric Fouache (see the summary )

Coastline and deltas:
10:10 a.m.-10:40 a.m.: “Swallowed by water and sand, ancient witnesses of adaptation and risks on the Aquitaine coast (France)”, Camille Culioli and Florence Verdin (see
summary ) 10:40 a.m.-11:10 a.m. : “Man facing hydrological and seismic risks: abandonment or adaptation? The examples of the Kuban Delta (Russia) and the Hebre Delta (Turkey/Greece)”, Anca Dan (see the summary )

Break (11:10 a.m.-11:20 a.m.)

Ports:
11:30 a.m.-12 p.m.: “How ancient societies dealt with the siltation of their harbors – the example of Ephesus”, Helmut Brückner (see
summary ) 12 p.m.-12:30 p.m.: “Building a port and maintaining it: a risky project. The example of the Narbonnais port system", Corinne Sanchez (see the summary )

Lunch (12:30 p.m.-2 p.m.)

Ports (continued):
2 p.m.-2:30 p.m.: “Geoarchaeology of port establishments facing natural risks”, Christophe Morhange and Nick Marriner (see summary )

Sanctuaries:
2:30
p.m.
-3 p.m .: The Letôon of 3:30 p.m.-4 p.m.: “The maintenance of statues in Delos: sanctuaries tested by environmental conditions in Antiquity”, Francis Prost (read the summary )

Discussions and closing (4 p.m.-4:30 p.m.)

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