University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne (UP1)
Several members of our UMR are faculty members of the School of Art History and Archaeology at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne (UFR 03). They offer a wide range of theoretical and practical teaching throughout the university syllabus, from the first year in Licence 1 to the PhD. Several fields of chrono-cultural specialization are available for students in Prehistory, the main one focusing on Paleolithic and Mesolithic Europe. Courses on the archaeology of Oceania, Africa and more occasionally South America, unique in France, can also be chosen. Students are trained in fundamental notions of social anthropology, in the diversity of symbolic manifestations, in deciphering dwelling remains and also in the in-depth study of past techniques. It is important to note, in this respect, that the University of Paris 1 is the only university in Europe to offer transcultural training in bone tool technology. Other members of the UMR actively participate in the Master’s degree ‘Archaeology, sciences for archaeology’ with the organization, for instance, of an annual seminar on ‘Funerary Archaeology’ or by training Master’s degree students in the “Valorization and mediation of archaeological heritage”. Working on the past also means participating in building the future, and members of UMR TEMPS are involved in the EUR ArChal ‘Archaeology in the present: global challenges in the light of the past’, led by UP1.
University Paris Nanterre (UPN)
Other specialists in prehistoric and protohistoric archaeology belong to the Department of Anthropology at the University of Paris Nanterre, in the UFR of Social Sciences and Administration (SSA). The only one of its kind in France, the Department of Anthropology comprises Ethnologists, Ethnomusicologists, Anthropologists specializing in dance, and Archaeologists, as do departments of Anthropology on the other side of the Atlantic. As a result, the multidisciplinary Licence degree ‘Human sciences, Anthropology, Ethnology’ offers multiple options, including one in Prehistory, and firmly roots archaeology in the social sciences and anthropology, in particular. In addition to courses in pre- and protohistory and in technological approaches to material culture, students take courses in the History of Anthropology, in Ethnology, and in a variety of more targeted themes (linguistic, political, cognitive or ecological anthropology, kinship, health, Amerindian ethnology, etc.), as well as in the Anthropology of Techniques. This pedagogical link between Ethnology and Archaeology is also a central part of the ‘Prehistory’ specialization of the Master’s degree in Anthropology, with renown seminars in lithic and ceramic technology. The teaching at Paris Nanterre thus provides students with both general and specialised knowledge and enables them to undertake doctoral studies on archaeological topics that explore the diversity of past cultural traditions.
Fieldwork
In addition to the study of texts and archaeological remains, students must participate in one of several training excavations of the UMR Temps, starting at the level of the Licence. For instance, in the Paris basin, of note are the sites of Étiolles, the Fontainebleau rock shelters, Ormesson, and Pincevent. In south-western France, projects include Gatzarria Cave, the Aurignac rock shelters, and Régismont-le-Haut. Others take place in French Polynesia, in Italy, or in southern Patagonia.