Civilisation Versus Civitas? La Cité Grecque à L’Épreuve de la Civilisation

How does the Greek city-state attain its position as the cradle of European civilization? Such a position became possible only since civilization was conceived as a homogenous, irreversible historical process, identified with the historical progress of Europe. This is what concerned Guizot’s era. Yet, in the xix ^th century, civilization referred to a plethora of historical processes that permitted one to regard the course of the different people of Antiquity and modernity, ranging from the primitive to a state of refinement. My hypothesis is that civilization functions in this case as a differentiating concept: it makes possible the distinction between the Ancients and the Ancients, between the Moderns and the Moderns, between Antiquity and modernity as a whole. In this article, I focus on the desiderata and risks concomitant with the integration of Greece into the history of European civilization.     

A Saxon Fish Weir and Undated Fish Trap Frames Near Ashlett Creek,Hampshire, UK: Static Structures on a Dynamic Foreshore

The remains of a wooden V-shaped fish weir and associated structures have been discovered near Ashlett Creek on the tidal mudflats of Southampton Water in Hampshire, southern Britain. Radiocarbon dating of oak roundwood stakes taken from the main weir structure date it to the middle Saxon period. Clusters of as-yet undated roundwood posts within the catchment area of the weir are interpreted as the frames for fish traps that are assumed to pre- or post-date the operational period of the weir itself. The weir is contemporary with wooden V-shaped fish weirs found elsewhere in southern and central Britain, and also Ireland, but its circular catchment ‘pound’ remains restricted, in these islands, to the Solent and Severn estuaries: it has a close parallel with another Saxon-era weir on the nearby Isle of Wight. It also shows striking structural similarities with examples in use today in Basse Normandy, on the southern shore of the English Channel. The paper discusses the function and operation of the weir, and places it in its social and historical context. Regressive cartography demonstrates that the structures have become exposed as a result of saltmarsh retreat in this area of Southampton Water since the nineteenth century. The radiocarbon dates returned for the posts demonstrate that this transgression of the marsh must have been preceded by a prolonged period of progradation, which covered and preserved the site; its subsequent re-exposure has negative implications for its survival.