Advanced Grants project SNSF: Specialized craftspeople on the move: a holistic approach to Bell Beaker societies in the Alps and in Europe

This project aims to identify social complexity during the Bell Beaker period (3rd millennium BCE) in the Alps through an analysis of artisans, their skills, raw materials, population, and social and territorial organisation. This European Advanced Grant project is based on the premise that it is possible to differentiate between everyday artisans, who meet their own needs, and “specialised” artisans, who possess specific knowledge that only a few people master.

The study is based on particular objects found in the graves of particular individuals, which could indicate a particular social status. The study focuses on objects requiring a high level of technical skill and knowledge of supply networks, such as gold or silver jewellery, finely decorated pottery, engraved steles and monumental dolmens. These productions would testify to a level of expertise mastered by a small group of artisans, distinct from everyday producers.

Three main sites will serve as the field of study: the megalithic necropolises of Petit-Chasseur (Sion), Saint-Martin de Corléans (Aosta), and the dolmen of Reignier (Haute-Savoie). The aim is to detect material clues that will enable these specialised craftsmen and women to be identified (engraving, architectural and manufacturing techniques).

The project combines two areas of research: the study of artefacts (objects, materials, techniques) and that of the population (biological, genetic and paleopathological analysis). This will make it possible to assess the degree of craft specialisation, to better understand social structures (complexity, heterarchy, hierarchy), and to test the hypothesis of hereditary power, or even the mobility of craftsmen and women across the Alpine territories.