This project aims to study the evolution of practices and populations facing death in antiquity on an international scale (from the Metal Ages to the Greco-Roman contexts).
Projects
This multidisciplinary research program, directed by A. Schmitt (CNRS, UMR 5140 ASM), funded by the LabEx Archimede of the University of Montpellier, and with which E. Anstett, proposes to reference and order the practices that leave certain deceased persons without a funeral or burial (https://archeomort.hypotheses.org/). It is conceived as a prefigurative program for more extensive research, and will result in a collective publication to be published in 2023 by ArcheoPress and OpenAccess.
Funded by the AMU interdisciplinary mission, this program is co-piloted by the historian A. Carol (AMU, Telemme) and E. Anstett (CNRS, ADES). Backed by a research seminar organized around a series of thematic study days, this program proposes to engage in interdisciplinary reflection on the mortuary fact, by questioning more particularly its ordinary or extraordinary modalities, its most recent evolutions (notably in a context of crisis), and its various issues (https://necrolog.hypotheses.org/a-propos-du-seminaire-histoire-et-anthropologie-de-la-mort-amu).
Research on the estimation of the age of immature children is one of the strong identity markers of our team, and has given it international recognition for nearly 20 years. In a forensic context, the challenge is to make the decision of the Justice system more reliable in order to qualify a crime or a homicide (reaching the age of fetal viability, foeticide or neonaticide, justified choice of one method rather than another). In an archaeo-thanatological context, the challenge is to understand and interpret modes of burial or choices of burial sites according to age categories, and to be able to discuss the socio-cultural aspects of age-dependent funeral rites.
As a "forensic science", forensic anthropology must meet strict methodological constraints with regard to the stakes of the conclusions drawn. The reliability of the analytical processing chains of remains (skeletonized or not) which leads to the estimation of the biological profile presented in a court of law is part of it, and an interdisciplinary approach integrating the recent advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning is able to bring significant progress.
The Collège Interdisciplinaire de Balistique Lésionnelle " CIBLé " brings together scientists, physicians, and forensic experts from the police and gendarmerie in order to study body trauma related to ballistic impacts. Several members of our team are involved and collaborate on "historical" case studies, as well as on expert appraisals of current judicial cases. A photographic atlas and a database are being created, and annual workshops are organized during national and international scientific events (French Society of Legal Medicine days, FASE symposium). A synthesis book is being prepared for publication by 2027.
Of interest to the entire historical depth explored by our team, the characterization of bone trauma is a central issue in the study of an individual's skeletal remains.
The challenge of this project, initiated in 2021, is to characterize the respective contributions of medical imaging techniques (CT scan, MRI) and 3D surface acquisitions (laser or structured light scanner, photogrammetry) in the reading of VAB.