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The tomb: a ghost story
Conference
Published on
08 November 2018
Updated on
04 December 2018
Colloquia
Human being ? An archeology of the origins
International conference, Friday 9 and Saturday 10 November 2018, at the Muséum de Toulouse.
International conference "Human being ? An archeology of the origins" by Didier Paya, Inrap
It would appear that humans who believe in the existence of a soul sometimes speculate about beneficial or malevolent manifestations of the dead. What civilisation, popular culture or religion does not have its ghosts and/or spirits? By looking at the changing features of funeral practices and attitudes towards death and the dead since the end of Antiquity to the modern period, we will see that the forms in which the deceased reappear have changed too.
Didier Paya, is a specialist in ancient, medieval and modern funeral conceptions. Doctor of postgraduate studies in Art History and Archaeology, specialised in the Middle Ages (University of Montpellier III) he defended a thesis entitled La tombe et le cimetière au Moyen Âge en Languedoc, l'exemple du diocèse de Maguelone (VI-XVIe siècle). His work is dedicated primarily to cemetery excavations and the study of funeral practices. With the help of anthropologists, he attempts to cross textual and archaeological data in order to bring to light the reasons for the shifting characteristics of funeral gestures that have been observed since the emergence of Christianity.
As head of operations at Inrap, he is essentially responsible for coordinating the activities of the various specialists working at the funeral sites.
Bibliography (in french)
- Calmet A.,1986, Dissertation sur les revenants en corps, les excommuniés, les oupires ou vampires brucolaques, texte publié pour la première fois en 1751, édition Million, Paris.
- Delumeau J.,1978, La peur en Occident (xive-xviiie siècle), Paris, Fayard, 1978.
- Lecouteux C.,1996, Fantômes et Revenants au Moyen Âge, postface de Régis Boyer, Paris, Imago, 1986. 2e éd. Paris.
- Schmitt J.-C.,1993, « Les images de revenants », dans Alexandre-Bidon D., Treffort C. (dir.), à réveiller les morts, Lyon, Presses universitaires de Lyon, p. 287-293
- Schmitt J.-C.,1994, « Les revenants », les vivants et les morts dans la société médiévale, Paris, Gallimard.
