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Editorial [Exoticisms]

Jean-Paul Jacob
Traduction de Madeleine Hummler
Cet article est une traduction de :
Éditorial [Exotismes] [fr]
Autre(s) traduction(s) de cet article :
Editorial [Exotismos] [es]

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1A taste for things from remote countries appears to be as old as humanity itself, though we cannot comprehend its emotional, cultural, cultural, economic or ‘cultual’ impact, at least in its oldest manifestations. Was it mere curiosity, rarity value or more?

2This meaning is what we are striving to decipher, concealed in archaeological finds, such as those shells recovered far from the sea-shore on Palaeolithic sites or Neolithic stone axes found at great distances from their mining and production areas.

3But beyond the rarity of some objects, the evocative power of distant lands shines through, for example in Roman times, asserting the attraction for all that lies beyond the seas, so often in hot countries. Let us however remain cautious when trying to interpret these representations. The fashion for wall paintings depicting Nile landscapes, for example, may represent a form of propaganda in favour of the expansion of the Roman Empire. But the same cannot be true for the lions’ heads that decorated the Samian ware mortaria of Dragenforff type 45. These were mass-produced in workshops far away from the shores of the Mediterranean but they too are testimony to the Gallo-Romans’ fondness for distant, little accessible, ‘exotic’ objects.

4Objects apart, there are also live animals – monkeys, parrots, etc.– brought back from remote countries as pets or even as ‘objects’ of curiosity. They document the infatuation with menageries that appears in antiquity, in Alexandria for example, and continues throughout the Middle Ages, as some famous examples illustrate: the menagerie of King René in his castle at Angers, or that of the Popes in Avignon. This interest for ‘exotic’ animals lasted beyond medieval times, as illustrated by the story of the Asian rhinoceros that the King of Portugal offered to Pope Leo X. In 1516 the ship in which the beast was being transported was in port for several weeks on the Ile d’If off Marseille; there the animal, which up to then was completely unknown in Europe became the object of curiosity of the people of Marseille and many others, since even King Francis I, on the way back from the Battle of Marignano, changed his travel plans to include Marseille and admire the beast. More recently, the young giraffe given to King Charles X by the Viceroy of Egypt in 1826 enjoyed the same popularity. She was unloaded in Marseille and made a triumphant journey to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, where some 600 000 people came to see her during the summer of 1827.

5Having sketched the journeys of objects and animals, let us also consider the arrival in France of plants of distant origins, used for medicinal, culinary, decorative or educational purposes; once acclimatised, some will gradually lose their strange or exotic character to become part and parcel of our daily environment.

6Finally, let us not forget that the ‘other’, the remote, the unfamiliar, has often been the object of a mixture of attraction and repulsion, and sometimes of unhealthy interest. The most blatant example is the unfortunate ‘Hottentot Venus’ who became a fairground attraction and died in 1815; the cast of her body and skeleton was kept in the Musée de l’Homme until her remains, removed from public view in 1974, were at last repatriated in 2002 to South Africa to receive a decent burial. Such exoticism is ambivalent to say the least, since Cuvier’s study of this South African woman led him to conclude that she belonged to an inferior race.

7Let us also remember those African servants and slaves whose presence in the great houses of the region of Nantes and Bordeaux was testimony to the wealth of their masters and the Triangular Trade, a trade network as lucrative as it was exotic! Finally, let us also recall the colonial exhibitions, which reached their zenith in 1931. These exhibitions showcased Africans or Native Americans in their pseudo-‘facsimile’ habitats, the intention being to demonstrate the supposed greatness of the Empire and justify its civilising mission. Some lost their life: to wit, some natives of French Guyana, photographed by Prince Roland Bonaparte in 1892, whom a certain Leveau, ‘explorer’ by trade, had irresponsibly brought to Paris in the middle of winter.

8Mistrust and repulsion, are they not the necessary premises of an attraction and interest that demand the taming of the ‘other’, made harmless by commercial, military or colonial interests? Interest and exoticism are their corollary. Exoticism, a curiosity by turns positive and destructive, is a term whose Greek and Latin roots signify ‘foreign’ and which the dictionary defines as “not belonging to Western civilisations” and “originating in distant and hot countries” (Petit Robert 2010).

9This exoticism, as is apparent, is difficult to conceive, since it encompasses phenomena and motivations so varied in their intentions and whose truth is so often hard to apprehend. Nevertheless, the observation and analysis of the simple material facts contributes to a better understanding of the issues involved.

Exceptional glass offerings from a child's cremation tomb in the Gabriélat necropolis in Pamiers, Ariège (archaeological operation: P. Barbier and L. Cordier, Inrap).

Exceptional glass offerings from a child's cremation tomb in the Gabriélat necropolis in Pamiers, Ariège (archaeological operation: P. Barbier and L. Cordier, Inrap).

These are a prismatic balsamaire (top), a goblet with ears of wheat (middle) and a goblet with strings of crossed ears of wheat (bottom), all blown in a mould (study of the glass: M. - T. Marty, CNRS, UMR 5608). Although this technique originated in Syro-Palestine, the glass is thought to be related to series found in the western provinces and of local origin. Their presence in this tomb, which is also richly endowed, provides an indication of the elite's taste for exotic objects in this part of the Narbonne province at the end of the 1st century AD.

Photos : Olivier Dayrens, Inrap.

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Titre Exceptional glass offerings from a child's cremation tomb in the Gabriélat necropolis in Pamiers, Ariège (archaeological operation: P. Barbier and L. Cordier, Inrap).
URL http://0-journals-openedition-org.catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/archeopages/docannexe/image/17700/img-1.jpg
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Jean-Paul Jacob, « Editorial [Exoticisms] »Archéopages [En ligne], 36 | 2013, mis en ligne le 09 avril 2024, consulté le 19 février 2025. URL : http://0-journals-openedition-org.catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/archeopages/17700 ; DOI : https://0-doi-org.catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/10.4000/archeopages.17700

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Jean-Paul Jacob

President of Inrap

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