Chapter Iles, frontières et archéologies

Abstract

This reflection, which I dedicate to my friend Guido Vannini, deals with themes at the heart of his scientific way, his method and our relations and exchanges over the past decades. Christian archaeology is by far the veteran of “post-Roman” archaeologies. A discipline born in 16th century papal Rome, it was originally strongly marked by the seal of an apologetic Catholicism, in the hottest moments of the Counter-Reformation. During the second half of the 19th century it gradually emerged from this ideological confinement. During the 20th century it became internationalized and broadened the scope of its interests. The real turning point came in the 1970s, when medieval archaeology was gaining ground. The 1980s were the years in which the centuries long considered obscure (7th-8th centuries in particular) were the object of all the attention of Christian, Classical and Medieval Archaeologies, each initially claiming a sort of monopoly, according to different ideological parameters (among those who “believe in heaven and those who do not”... ), in a “je t’aime, moi non plus”, made up of angry looks, deaf dialogues, then today’s finally constructive exchanges and debates, and new balances arise from these initial conflicts and stimulating debates.