The colloquium on ‘Vix and the Princely Phenomenon’ was held at Châtillon-sur-Seine in 2016. It was organized as a sequel to the 1993 event (Brun & Chaume (eds) 1997). Participants at the first symposium were predominantly ‘prince-sceptical’. Back in 1993 the systemic perspective we defended had been contested by supporters of the post-processualist movement initiated by Ian Hodder (1982).