Erstein, lieu-dit Grasweg (Bas-Rhin) : fouille d'un puits de la fin du
Néolithique, avec cuvelage en chêne (Doc. Ch. Croutsch, PAIR)
The development of a uniquely professional archeology in response to an acceleration in the destruction of archeological cultural heritage following intensive large-scale public works and agricultural development changed the face of national archeology in the 1970’s-1980’s. A formal policy of preventive archeology contracted between developers and archeologists prior to interventions was set in place to substitute for an often precarious, random form of rescue archeology.
Alsace enjoys pole position in this nation-wide plan of action, thanks to its dynamism and considerable number of sites handled yearly under the scientific and administrative expertise of the Regional Service of Archeology, a service decentralized from the Cultural Ministry supervising and managing archeological activity within Alsace’s Regional Direction of Cultural Affairs.
The apparition of two new operators, one public, the Rhenish Interdepartmental Archeological Pole created under the aegis of two regional councils, the other, a private company, Société Antea, along with the National Institute of Archeological Research, allows a diversified response to a plethora of discoveries that have surfaced from territorial development, housing construction and the renovation of old sections of urban centers.
The exhibition presented here is the seventh chapter of a series entitled “Recent Excavations”.
Inaugurated in 1992, these exhibits are dedicated to the topicality of Alsatian discoveries and major themes structuring regional archeological research. Discoveries presented are therefore a means to show to the public, often for the first time, the dynamic nature and diversity of regional archeology. The museum’s objective is to allow inhabitants living in the featured municipalities to appropriate vestiges of their past history and give them a better understanding of the importance of excavations conducted in their area by an evaluation of the state of scientific studies carried out there.
This edition of the exhibition “10,000 years of history” does not include a monograph of the site as in previous exhibits (Wolfisheim, Mutzig, Strasbourg, Niedernai, Erstein…), but rather features a more complete regional assessment covering a larger section across Alsace. It presents the major finds gleaned from excavations over the last decade at forty sites and tackles new areas of research and acquisitions allowing us to enrich our knowledge about the region’s history.
Its broad chronological range extends from the Neolithic (5,800 B.C.) to archeology of the 20th century marked by world conflict and includes protohistory, Gallo-Roman, Merovingian and Medieval history.
Exhibition Commissioner:
Bernadette Schnitzler, Head Curator at the Archeological Museum
Practical information
Hours
Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 12pm to 6pm
Saturdays and Sundays from 10pm to 6pm
The exhibition and the museum are closed on Tuesday
Admission Prices
General public: 5 euros
Reduced admission: 2,50 euros
Free entry to all visitors on the first Sunday of each month.
Venue
Archeological Museum, Rohan Palace
2, place du Château, Strasbourg
Telephone: 03 88 52 50 00
Open for groups from 9am to 12pm
(upon reservation with the Museums’ Educational Service
03 88 88 50 50)
Closed on January 1st, Good Friday, May 1st, November 1st and 11th and December 25th
Catalog
« 10 000 ANS D’HISTOIRE ! Dix ans de fouilles archéologiques en Alsace» Série « Fouilles récentes » n° 7
Editions des Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg, Publishers
192 pages, 100 illustrations
Collectif, sous la direction de Bernadette Schnitzler
ISBN : 978-2-35125-073-0
Diffusion / Distribution : Le Seuil / Volumen
Price: 22 euros