Cet ouvrage est le résultat d’un programme d’échange entre les universités de Bordeaux-Montaigne et de São Paulo autour de la culture matérielle occidentale des sociétés antique et médiévale (programme COFECUB).

The archeological approach is based on productions of various kinds, which have been established at some moment in the past, and which have evolved up to their aspects at the excavation time.

The term “production” refers to all processes that leads to the creation of material goods – whether it is a building, a manuscript, clothing, or a tool for example.

The production’s scope is an essential aspect in the material culture of ancient societies approach. It is about reviewing interactions between humans and their environment through strategies that an individual or a group establishes to create something.

La notion de « culture matérielle » est fondamentale et omniprésente dans l’étude des anciennes sociétés. La littérature scientifique sur le sujet est si abondante que parfois cela devient difficile d’en tirer un sens.

A noção de cultura material é fundamental e onipresente no estudo sobre as sociedades antigas. A literatura cientifica desse assunto é tão abundante que as vezes, é difícil lhe conferir um sentido.

The notion of material culture is fundamental and ubiquitous in the study of ancient societies. The scientific literature on this subject is so abundant that it is sometimes difficult to make sense of it.

In letter 32 addressed to Sulpicius Severus, Paulinus of Nola offers his friend several tituli to be inscribed into the religious complex of Primuliacum – “immaterial” inscriptions almost contradictions in their own terms.

Contrary to the current – erroneous – idea of the Middle Ages as a period of illiteracy, writing was an extremely important and valued activity back then.

The term ‘hoard’ generally refers to a group of objects accumulated on purpose and buried until discovery. Accumulations of coins, sometimes associated with other various forms of money such as ingots, coin blanks or scrap metal, are called coin hoards.

The history of maritime trade begins under the rule of Ptolemy II (283-246 BC), who initiated Greek seafaring on the Red Sea. Indeed, after Alexander the Great, war elephants had become part of Hellenistic armies.

In 2010, a test pit was dug on the eastern edge of the Camp de César oppidum, enabling the excavation and study of a mortar-bonded stone building 14.40 m long and 8 m wide, with a maximum elevation and stratigraphy of around 70 cm.