Alabaster of a statue of an apostle (1420-30) conserved in the Musée de l'Hôtel Sandelin in Saint-Omer (62) and the equipment used to make it, identified using isotopic techniques as part of the Louvre II project (Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais, 2018).
© BRGM - Wolfram Kloppmann
A conference for the general public at the Orléans Museum for Biodiversity and the Environment
Europe has always been criss-crossed by networks allowing people, ideas and goods to circulate. However, the further back we go, the rarer the written sources on these exchanges. This absence makes the study of these ancient networks more complex and forces researchers to adopt other analytical methods.
To make up for this shortcoming, they rely in particular on the materials themselves, as they retain clues to their origin. In this way, these material remains bear witness to the past, making it possible to reconstruct production and trading routes.
This is true of alabaster, which was highly prized in the Middle Ages for its whiteness and translucency, making it an ideal material for sculpture. The geochemical signatures of this noble variety of gypsum make it possible to trace ancient trade routes in Europe. This is because its composition retains traces of its origin, linking the objects to the areas where the raw materials used to make them were extracted.
A conference for the general public organised by Centre-Sciences, BRGM and MOBE on 12 May at 7pm at MOBE, featuring Wolfram Kloppmann, BRGM research director, geochemist and specialist in stable and radiogenic isotopes.
Practical information
Date and time
Tuesday 12 May at 7pm
Venue
MOBE – Orléans Museum of Biodiversity and the Environment
6 Rue Marcel Proust
45000 Orléans
