International conference organised by the Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap) and the Bibliothèque nationale de France Friday 30th September and Saturday 1st October 2005 Grand Auditorium, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
The unprecedented rise of rescue or preventive archaeology over the last twenty years—resulting from the combined effects of ever-increasing infrastructural developments, better public awareness and dedicated legal frameworks—has brought with it remarkable advances in our knowledge of the past. The extensive areas opened-up and the wealth of finds collected in the course of salvage operations provide whole new bodies of evidence for archaeological investigations.
In France, these remarkable finds make it possible to develop new approaches to the Palaeolithic, the Neolithic and the Iron Age, and they provide particularly rich data for researching the Romanisation of Gaul and the medieval period. In other parts of the world, such as the Caribbean or pre-Columbian America, the evidence generated through rescue operations can lead to a complete renewal of our archaeological conceptions.
Moreover, besides advancing so decisively our understanding of past human societies and cultures, the achievements of rescue archaeology have clearly been crucial also to our knowledge regarding the evolution of past climates, environments and landscapes. During this two-days international conference, jointly organised by the Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research) and the Bibliothèque nationale de France (French National Public Library), some thirty specialists from France and abroad will overview the latest contributions of rescue archaeology in their respective domain of research, and then share, in a global perspective, their experiences, methods and achievements.
The unprecedented rise of rescue or preventive archaeology over the last twenty years—resulting from the combined effects of ever-increasing infrastructural developments, better public awareness and dedicated legal frameworks—has brought with it remarkable advances in our knowledge of the past. The extensive areas opened-up and the wealth of finds collected in the course of salvage operations provide whole new bodies of evidence for archaeological investigations.
In France, these remarkable finds make it possible to develop new approaches to the Palaeolithic, the Neolithic and the Iron Age, and they provide particularly rich data for researching the Romanisation of Gaul and the medieval period. In other parts of the world, such as the Caribbean or pre-Columbian America, the evidence generated through rescue operations can lead to a complete renewal of our archaeological conceptions.
Moreover, besides advancing so decisively our understanding of past human societies and cultures, the achievements of rescue archaeology have clearly been crucial also to our knowledge regarding the evolution of past climates, environments and landscapes. During this two-days international conference, jointly organised by the Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research) and the Bibliothèque nationale de France (French National Public Library), some thirty specialists from France and abroad will overview the latest contributions of rescue archaeology in their respective domain of research, and then share, in a global perspective, their experiences, methods and achievements.