Identity and Otherness among the Barbarians in Late Antiquity and Early Medieval Europe

The difficult relationship between textual and archaeological record

Madrid, 30-31 ottobre 2013

One of the main objectives of this conference is to implement the need to use, from a critical perspective, all types of sources available to approach the study of so-called “barbarian societies”, without prioritizing one kind or another type of record, particularly when it is studied the complex question of socio-political identities. In this sense it has been shown in numerous occasions the limits, conceptual and methodological, of Archaeology to address issues related to Identity through the analysis of the funerary world. Just as the close dependence of the archaeological record regarding the information provided by narrative sources about the “barbarian world”. Moreover, the texts provide a picture of the “barbarians” from an exclusive Roman perspective, which serves the interests and geopolitical strategies of the Roman Empire in the management of their relationship with the gentes barbarae. From a series of studies, conducted by renowned experts on various European areas and under different research perspectives, we intend to lay the foundations for a constructive dialogue on a key topic in the study of the Late Antique and Early Medieval societies in Europe.

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