Human Development in Landscapes | People | Manuel A. Fernandez-Götz, Alumni

“Identity and Power: Northeast Gaul from the Early Iron Age until Romanization (600BC - AD70)” (Complutense University Madrid – Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel)

The aim of this doctoral thesis was to analyze the evolution of Iron Age communities in Northeast Gaul, in particular in the Middle Rhine-Moselle region, with special consideration of questions concerning social identity. From this perspective, the two key concepts structuring this investigation are identity and power, i.e. the power relationships which existed between various identity-based categories. Methodologically, a holistic approach is adopted combining archaeological data with anthropological, ethno-archaeological and historical references.

This doctoral thesis is structured into three focal parts, beginning from the more general to the specific, with a particular emphasis on the last:

1) The first part presents a theoretical and methodological review on the different types of social identity (ethnicity, gender, age, class…) as well as the central concept of ‘power’. Together with an explanation of definitions and key concepts, each section also includes a series of historical and anthropological examples, as well as a discussion about the limitations and possibilities of an archaeological exploration on major identity categories. Moreover, a central theme entails the distinction between different degrees of relational and individualized identities. In short, the first part of this thesis provides an up-to-date summary of one of the hot-topics in current research agendas: the archaeology of identities.

2) The second part offers a detailed study of the different levels of ethnic identity and socio-political organization which appear superimposed and co-integrated in non-Mediterranean Gaul at the end of the Iron Age. According to written and archaeological sources, the three main socio-political levels that can be distinguished in ascending order include:

1) local groups comprising several households, 2) pagi (sub-ethnic communities), and 3) civitates (ethnic communities). The complex relationships between these different groupings, the features of real and fictive kinship ties, the dual nature of pre-Roman pagi and civitates as both political and ethnic entities, the evolution of political institutions, the all-embracing character of clientship networks, and changing border dynamics are some of the topics discussed.

3) Finally, the third and main part of this thesis entails a diachronic analysis of the cultural change experienced by societies of Northeastern Gaul from approximately 600 BC until 70 AD, i.e. from the outset of demographic growth reflected by both archaeological and palynological data to the consequences of the Batavian revolt. Although the Middle Rhine-Moselle region represents the core study area, other neighboring regions are also taken into account, e.g. the Champagne, the Belgian Ardennes and the Lower Rhine. Some of the main issues addressed here within concrete case studies include:

- cycles of centralization and decentralization;

- origins of the La Tène culture;

- questions about migration in the Late Iron Age;

- the application of ideas from scholars such as Foucault, Bourdieu, Giddens or De Certeau;

- the emergence of the oppida;

- the key role of sanctuaries in the construction of collective identities;

- distinctions between different types of societies within the area under study;

- a critical reappraisal of macro-ethnic categories such as ‘Celts’ and ‘Germans’;

- the impact of ‘Romanization’ on identity transformation.

The result is a renewed view of Iron Age societies in temperate Europe and, at a more general level, a step forward in the complicated but fascinating task of constructing an archaeology of identities.