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Report on the “Tatou compris” game

By Roxanne Oudeville

The SciCoMove project took part in the 2024 edition of the “Fête de la Science” (Science Fest), an outreach event during which associations, companies and laboratories can present their studies, projects and activities to the public. This cultural festival took place in Le Mans on Saturday October 12 and Sunday October 13, 2024, at the historic setting of the Abbaye de l’Épau. The SciCoMove project was presented in the form of a card game.

            The game, named “Tatou compris” in reference to the animal chosen to represent the project, is based on the rules of the Memory game. The cards are made up of images that have to be turned over and matched in pairs, with the player with the most matches winning the game. The advantage of this game model is that it’s both simple to understand and well-known, making it accessible even to the youngest players. It also makes it possible to illustrate the game and add commentary and information on the project and the objects presented, by means of explanatory texts beneath the images.

            The theme of this year’s Science Fest was “Oceans of Knowledge”. The project presentation had to be adapted to this theme. It was decided to use the same example as the one used for Researchers’ Night of 2023, namely the armadillo. This animal offered several advantages. Being exotic to the French public, it remains surprising to the public. As the specimen on display was a three-banded armadillo from Brazil, it provided a link between Europe and South America, and spoke to the exchanges at the heart of the project. This armadillo is also a specimen preserved in the archives of the Musée Vert in Le Mans. It was studied as part of the SciCoMove project by Nathalie Richard and Nicolas Morel. It therefore served as both a local and practical example to explain the study of the collections carried out during this project. It also made the link with the Science Festival theme, as the armadillo present in Le Mans has travelled and crossed oceans.

            The cards in the game include information in the form of simple explanatory texts (to remain accessible to younger players). Those data covered the history of the “Great Discoveries”, and more specifically concerning South America, as well as general information on the armadillo (its diet, its main characteristics), on the Musée Vert and finally on the project itself.

            The game was accompanied by a quiz, based on the information on the cards. The questions were designed to motivate children to retain the information. The quiz was not offered for every player, but adapted to the audience, the children over the age of ten. For older players, another quiz was proposed, more difficult as it did not rely on the cards but on the players’ general knowledge. The game and the quiz served both to attract families and to introduce the project.             Over the two days, Alexia and Roxanne welcomed around sixty groups, or two to three hundred people, to the SciCoMove stand, for whom they were able to explain the project, its players, its purpose and its study centers in a playful atmosphere.

Compte rendu sur le Jeu « Tatou compris » 

Par Roxanne Oudeville,

Le projet SciCoMove participa à l’édition 2024 de la Fête de la Science, un évènement durant lequel les associations, entreprises et laboratoires peuvent présenter leurs études, projets et activités au grand public. Ce festival culturel eut lieu au Mans le samedi 12 et dimanche 13 octobre 2024, dans le cadre historique de l’Abbaye de l’Épau. Le projet SciCoMove fut donc exposé sous la forme d’un jeu de carte.

            Celui-ci, nommé « Tatou compris » en référence à l’animal choisi pour représenter le projet, se base sur les règles du jeu du Mémory. Les cartes sont composées d’images qu’il faut retourner et associer par paires, le joueur en obtenant le plus remportant la partie. L’avantage de ce modèle de jeu est qu’il est à la fois simple à comprendre et connu, le rendant donc accessible même pour les plus jeunes. Il permet aussi d’illustrer le propos et de l’agrémenter de commentaires et d’informations sur le projet et les objets présentés au travers de textes explicatifs sous les images.

            Le thème imposé de la Fête de la Science cette année fut « Océans de Savoirs ». Il fallut donc adapter le discours de présentation du projet à celui-ci. Il fut décidé de prendre le même exemple que celui de la Nuit des Chercheurs de 2023, à savoir le tatou. Cet animal représentait plusieurs avantages. Étant exotique pour le public français, il demeure surprenant pour le public. Le spécimen présenté étant un tatou à trois bandes originaires du Brésil, il faisait le lien entre l’Europe et l’Amérique du Sud et permettait de parler des échanges au cœur du projet. Ce tatou est aussi un spécimen conservé dans les archives du Musée Vert au Mans. Il fut d’ailleurs étudié dans le cadre du projet SciCoMove par Nathalie Richard et Nicolas Morel. Il servait donc à la fois d’exemple local et pratique pour expliquer l’étude des collections réalisée au cours de ce projet. Il faisait aussi le lien avec la thématique de la Fête de la Science, car le tatou présent au Mans a voyagé et traversé les océans.

            Les cartes du jeu reprennent ces informations sous formes de textes explicatifs simples (pour rester accessibles aux plus jeunes). Ces données concernaient l’histoire des « Grandes Découvertes », plus particulièrement celle de l’Amérique du Sud, des informations générales sur le tatou (son régime alimentaire, ses caractéristiques principales), sur le Musée Vert et enfin sur le projet en lui-même.

            Le jeu était accompagné d’un quiz, se basant sur les informations notées sur les cartes. Les questions permettaient ainsi de motiver les enfants à bien suivre et retenir les informations. Le quiz n’était pas proposé pour chaque joueur, mais adapté selon le public, à savoir les enfants de plus de dix ans. Pour les personnes plus âgées, un autre quiz était proposé, plus difficile car ne se reposant pas sur les cartes mais sur la culture générale des joueurs. Le jeu et les quiz servaient à la fois à attirer les familles et à introduire le projet.

            Lors de ces deux jours, Alexia et Roxanne ont accueillis une soixantaine de groupes, soit deux à trois cents personnes sur le stand de SciCoMove, autant d’individus pour lesquels elles ont pu expliquer le projet, ses acteurs, sa finalité et ses centres d’étude dans une ambiance ludique.

SciCoMove Digital Exhibition”University of Bonn 24-25 October 2024″

Workshop-Prorgramme

Thursday, 24 October 2024Location: BASA Museum
14.00-14.30Welcome-coffee
14.30-17.15Guided tours through the different exhibitions in the “Bonn Heritage Lab”, starting with the new temporary exhibition “In Search of Traces. Object Stories” (“Auf Spurensuche. Objektgeschichten”).
17.15-17.30Coffee-break
17.30-19.00Key-note by Ilja Labischinski (Ethnological Museum of Berlin): „We don’t want another white guy to tell our story!“ Curating Postcolonial Provenance Research in the Humboldt Forum in Berlin
19.30Dinner together at restaurant “Olive”.
Friday, 25 October 2024Location: BASA Museum
09.30-10.15Presentation of the “Open-Museum-Project” at the University of Bonn by the project coordinator Elizabeth Stauß
10.15-10.30Coffee-Break
10.30-12.30Presentation of the concept with first content for the SciCoMove Digital Exhibition and exchange of opinions
12.30-14.00Lunch-break, lunch at restaurant “Royal India”
14.00-16.30Workshop-session on the connections and interrelations between the different exhibition contents
16.30-17.00Presentation results workshop-session
17.00-17.15Closing remarks

Information Zoom-Meetings

1.     Key-Note by Ilja Labischinski – 24 October 2024, 17.30 – 19.00

Title: “We don’t want another white guy to tell our story!“

Topic: Key-Note SciCoMove Digital Exhibition

Join Zoom Meeting

https://uni-bonn.zoom-x.de/j/64117097742?pwd=kBxWftADYa8FIka6Nep263Gu1zsA06.1

Meeting ID: 641 1709 7742

Identification code: 341656

2.     Workshop on Digital Exhibition – 25 October 2024, 09.30 – 17.15

Topic: Workshop SciCoMove Digital Exhibition

Join Zoom Meeting

https://uni-bonn.zoom-x.de/j/67516539955?pwd=54y9DiWbYxwcOITI1i90VS88sIQX3J.1

Meeting-ID: 675 1653 9955

Identification code: 448364

Mariano Bonomo and Nathalie Richard at the SEGUNDO CONGRESO DE HISTORIA DE LA ANTROPOLOGÍA ARGENTINA, October 17 2024.

Mariano Bonomo and Nathalie Richard will present the result of their research on Florentino Ameghino’s collection of European prehistoric artefacts at the second CHAA.

Web site of the conference: https://segundochaa.com/

Abstract:

Esta ponencia examina la historia detrás de la formación de las colecciones prehistóricas europeas de Florentino Ameghino, hoy depositadas en el Museo de La Plata (FCNyM-UNLP). La colección incluye variados materiales arqueológicos del Paleolítico Inferior, Medio y Superior, así como del Neolítico y la Edad del Bronce, provenientes de Francia y Bélgica. Nuestro objetivo es conocer los mecanismos que utilizó Ameghino para adquirir esta colección europea. La presente investigación se enmarca en el proyecto SciCoMove, financiado por el programa Horizon 2020 de la Unión Europea bajo la acción Marie Skłodowska-Curie (No 101007579).

Florentino Ameghino residió en París de 1878 a 1881, período en el que participó activamente en la Exposición Universal de París de 1878, presentando materiales arqueológicos y paleontológicos de la región pampeana de Argentina. Estos materiales, incluidos en el catálogo especial de la República Argentina de 1878, hoy se encuentran predominantemente en la División Arqueología del Museo de La Plata (MLP). Sin embargo, mientras las colecciones pampeanas han sido ampliamente investigadas, la colección europea ha permanecido en gran medida inexplorada y sin documentación asociada. Para descifrar la procedencia de estos materiales, primero se analizaron las publicaciones y correspondencia científica de Ameghino. Durante su estancia en París, Ameghino contribuyó con cinco publicaciones científicas sobre los yacimientos prehistóricos de Chelles, ubicados en el valle del río Marne, cerca de París. En Chelles se encontraron herramientas líticas bifaciales junto con huesos de fauna extinta. Ameghino aportó significativamente a la geología del sitio, ayudando a caracterizar sus capas industriales y paleontológicas. Según sus publicaciones y correspondencia, adquirió más de 300 objetos de Chelles durante sus trabajos de campo entre 1880 y 1881. Además, estos trabajos que se detallarán en la ponencia, Ameghino planeaba explorar otros importantes sitios paleolíticos en el norte de Francia, como Saint-Acheul y Abbeville, conocidos por proporcionar las primeras evidencias en Francia sobre la alta antigüedad de la humanidad, así como de la coexistencia de los humanos con grandes mamíferos extintos.

Después de su depósito en el MLP en la década de 1880, la colección europea de Ameghino permaneció sin estudiar durante más de setenta años. No fue hasta la década de 1950 que el prehistoriador austriaco Oswald Menghin revisó esta colección, pero no realizó publicaciones salvo por una breve nota de su asistente Horacio Delfor Chiappe. Desde 2006, el personal de la División Arqueología del MLP ha llevado a cabo distintas tareas de conservación y documentación, que continúan hasta hoy. Los objetos europeos registrados actualmente suman más de 1300, abarcando artefactos líticos, huesos, fragmentos de cerámica y moldes de Francia, Bélgica y otras procedencias europeas. La información se ha registrado en una planilla de cálculos estandarizada y se ha digitalizado para facilitar el acceso en línea a través del repositorio digital denominado Culturalis: https://culturalis.mlp.fcnym.unlp.edu.ar/. Las inscripciones y etiquetas en los objetos han proporcionado valiosas pistas sobre los lugares de procedencia. Algunos objetos de la colección fueron obtenidos mediante intercambios, compras y regalos de otros prehistoriadores y coleccionistas. Por ejemplo, algunos objetos formaron parte de las colecciones de Édouard Lartet y Henry Christy, pioneros en los estudios prehistóricos del valle del río Vézère en el departamento de la Dordogne en 1863. La correspondencia científica de Ameghino también menciona intercambios con prehistoriadores famosos como Gabriel de Mortillet, quien le donó varios objetos. En resumen, la colección francesa de Ameghino depositada en el MLP comprende materiales adquiridos a través de diversos medios. Los objetos de los departamentos de la Dordogne, Charente y Côtes-d’Armor fueron obtenidos a través de intercambios, compras y regalos, mientras que los de Chelles en sus propios trabajos en el terreno. Esta circulación e intercambio de materiales arqueológicos entre individuos e instituciones fueron cruciales para la difusión global de la emergente disciplina de la prehistoria durante el siglo XIX.

Georges (Jorge) Engerrand (1877-1961), global prehistory and European collections in Mexico City, by Nathalie Richard

The history of European prehistory collections in Mexico City is not easy to recount. These specimens were moved several times. They are now mainly kept at the Museo nacional de las culturas del mundo (MNCM). A few pieces are also on display in a showcase at the UNAM’s Museo de geología.  At the MNCN, part of these series was displayed in a room dedicated to universal prehistory, which is now closed. They are now stored in the deposit of the museum (Fig. 1).

Figure 1 – European prehistoric tools in the storage area of the National Museum of World Cultures in Mexico City. @Photo by the author.

The journey of these objects towards their current location is full of uncertainties, as the archives are fragmentary. But several clues suggest that the earliest pieces to arrive in Mexico city are linked to the life and work of Georges Engerrand.

Georges Engerrand, anarchism and prehistory.

Born in Libourne in 1877, Georges Engerrand studied natural sciences at Bordeaux University between 1895 and 1898 (Campbell 1962). During these years, he was involved in anarchist circles, published several articles in Les Temps nouveaux and sided for Captain Dreyfus in the events that were causing deep divisions in France at the time. A pacifist and Dreyfus supporter, he refused to do his compulsory military service. Risking imprisonment, he fled to Brussels in 1898, where he joined up with Elisée Reclus, one of the leading figures in the intellectual anarchist circles of the time.

Engerrand stayed in the Belgian capital for almost 10 years, teaching geology and prehistory at several establishments, including the Université nouvelle de Bruxelles or Ecole libre d’enseignement supérieur (1894-1919), an institution founded by socialists and anarchists where Reclus taught (Elmer 2022; Mosquete 2004). During this period, he wrote a thesis in geology and numerous publications, mainly on geology and prehistory (Newcombe 1961). His book Six leçons de préhistoire (Bruxelles, Larcier, 1905), a summary intended for a broad readership, was awarded a prize by the Belgian Academy of Sciences.

A supporter of evolutionism, Engerrand was an advocate of a science-based prehistory, founded primarily on the geological (stratigraphic) study of the sites. He associated the development of this discipline with the drive to emancipate humanity through science, in essays marked by a rationalist conception that he shared with many anarchist intellectuals. The Spanish translation of his 1905 book, Nociones de la primeras edades de la humanidad (Barcelona, Publicaciones de la escuela moderna, 1905), was prefaced by E. Reclus.

During his time in Brussels, Engerrand became friends with the Belgian prehistorian Aimé Rutot (1847-1933). He endorsed his hypotheses about the existence of a very ancient human being whose crude tools, known as eoliths, would be found in geological layers dating from the Tertiary period, older than the Lower Palaeolithic (De Bont 2003).

Engerrand and the first course in global prehistory in Mexico.

The reasons for G. Engerrand’s decision to move to Mexico are not precisely known, but it is possible that he viewed this country as a new opportunity for his career and for the advancement of the international anarchist rationalist project (Graham 1961, Rutsch 2010). He arrived in 1907 to join the Instituto Geológico Nacional as a geologist, and became chief geologist of the “tertiary-quaternary” section, a position he held until 1915. In this capacity, he undertook numerous field trips, during which he also made archaeological discoveries. In 1909, for example, he found at Concepción, in the state of Campeche, a lithic industry without ceramics, the shape of which was reminiscent of the oldest knapped flints found in Europe (Engerrand & Urbina 1909). This typological comparison led him to postulate the existence of an early prehistory in Mexico, but the lack of a geological context for the Concepción discovery made him extremely cautious in his conclusions.

In 1909-1910, Engerrand was appointed professor of prehistory at the Museo Nacional (now the Museo Nacional de Antropología, named Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnologia in 1910), a position he held alongside his work at the Instituto de Geología until 1914. In this capacity, he gave lectures on global prehistory, placing Mexican pre-Hispanic archaeology in a broader chronological framework and in a global geographical context, while promoting the stratigraphic method. A general outline of the course kept in the archives set out a 4-year programme, with three hours per week from 1909 onwards (Archivo histórico del Museo nacional de Antropología, vol. 289, 11707 DIRcur). The first year was a general introduction to geology and its links with prehistory, outlining the history of the discipline, discussing the uses of ethnographic comparison, presenting known paleoanthropological data and the biological theories about human origins, and ending with a guide to field work. The second year focused on Tertiary and Quaternary lithic industries in Europe. One section was devoted to eoliths, using a vocabulary forged by Rutot. The third year covered the art, fauna, flora and human races of the European Quaternary era. It included a section entitled “An attempt to reconstruct the life and mentality of prehistoric man in the light of known facts”, and then focused on the Neolithic period. The fourth year dealt with the transition from prehistory to history and with extra-European prehistory, with a special focus on the American continent. The debates going on in the United-States over the existence of an American Palaeolithic were discussed, as well as the research carried out in Brazil and Argentina on the same topic. The question of the transition from prehistory to pre-Hispanic cultures concluded the course.

Engerrand was also involved in the work of the Escuela Internacional de Arqueología y Etnología Americanas, which operated in Mexico from 1910 to 1917 and in which Franz Boas played a central coordinating role (Ruiz 2003, Rutsch 2010, Taladoire 2022). Engerrand became its director in 1912-1913 and, along with others, promoted stratigraphic methods in order to establish a more precise chronological sequence for Mexican sites. The political instability of the period of the Mexican Revolution, his designation as a foreigner (although he had obtained Mexican nationality and changed his French first name “Georges” to Hispanic “Jorge”), and some interpersonal conflicts forced him to leave Mexico for the United States in 1917. He ended his career there as a professor at the University of Texas.

History of collections

The history of the European prehistoric collections in the public institutions of Mexico City is linked to the first course in global prehistory given by Engerrand. However, the archives and collections that have been found to date are incomplete, and we have clues rather than evidence on this subject.

Nevertheless, the historical archives of the National Anthropology Museum show that the matter of setting up a collection to complement Engerrand’s course was raised as early as November 1909. To this effect, the museum’s director wrote to the Secretary of Public Education asking for a collection of “general prehistory” to be purchased from a specialized dealer in Belgium, the Comptoir ethnographique de Bruxelles. The collection consisted of 730 items “que le Profesor de Prehistoria de este Museo […] juzga non solo única, por su importancia y rareza, sino indispensable para la enseñanza de su clase, que carece en absoluto de arsenal prehistórico”. The museum was notified of the Ministry’s approval a few days later (Archivo histórico del Museo nacional de Antropología, vol. 267, 10495). But the archives remain silent on the follow-up to the transaction.

However, the objects that I was able to see or that feature in the MNCM’s inventories bear significant indications. They suggest that pieces arrived from Belgium in relation to Engerrand’s teachings and ideas and strongly point at the Brussels Comptoir ethnographique as the provider.

Many of these objects come from sites that were emblematic of the research carried out by Belgian prehistorians in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as the Trou de Chaleux, Spiennes, Boncelles and Mesvin. However, unlike sites such as La Madeleine or Solutré in France, these Belgian sites were not subsequently considered to have played a key role in the development of the discipline. Several, such as Boncelles, present a questionable stratigraphy.

In addition to the name of the site, these objects bear an indication referring to industries whose names were coined by Belgian prehistorians and adopted by Aimé Rutot (Fig. 2). In the Spanish translation of his 1905 work, Nociones de la primeras edades de la humanidad, Engerrand endorsed this vocabulary (more clearly than in the French version, since these names were not accepted in France). He adopted the divisions proposed by his friend Rutot to designate certain ancient prehistoric cultures, based on the names of Belgian sites, for example “Mesvinian” (Mesvin site) or “Strepyen” (Strepy site) (Fig. 3).

Figure 2 – Flint tool marked “Bergerac, Strepyen”, MNCM @photo by the author.

These names associated with Rutot were also used in the outline of the prehistory course given in Mexico City. Coined by Belgian prehistorians, they were not adopted by the majority of the international scientific community. Most of them were abandoned between the two world wars.

Figure 3 – Table of prehistoric industries according to Rutot, reproduced in Engerrand’s Nociones de la primeras edades de la humanidad (1905).

Moreover, the content of the remaining series at the MNCN reveals that 53% of the stone tools came from Belgian sites, and more than 80% from sites listed in the catalogue of the Comptoir ethnographique de Belgique for 1909 (Fig. 4). This specialized shop was owned by Louis Exsteens, a dealer in Brussels who was close to the prehistorian Aimé Rutot and sold series organized according to his classification.

Figure 4 – Collections on sale at the Comptoir ethnographique de Bruxelles in 1909.

Conclusion

Although it leaves a number of questions unanswered, this paper shows that the Nacional Museum of Mexico bought a collection of European prehistoric artefacts in 1909 from a specialized dealer, in order to complete its collections and provide specimens in relation to the creation of a new course on prehistory. This story is emblematic of the reasons that may have fostered the circulation of prehistoric series from Europe to Latin America before the First World War. It underlines the importance of a flow of archaeological objects that is the reverse of the one most often studied by historians of science and collections.

These objects arriving in the Mexican collections testify of the European conception of prehistory as a global phenomenon, whose traces were likely to be discovered all over the world under similar typological forms. In the Americas, such traces had been discovered at an early stage in the United States, where they fuelled heated controversy over their dating, and in Argentina, where the ideas of Fiorentino Ameghino were debated (Meltzer 1983, Podgorny 2015). In Mexico, the assumption of the existence of lithic industries that predated ceramic cultures emerged more strongly at the beginning of the 20th century. In this context, the creation of reference collections, allowing for typological comparisons between American and European objects, was a crucial issue, as shown by the example of Georges Engerrand.

Bibliography

CAMPBELL T. N., « George Charles Marius Engerrand 1877-1961 », American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 64, No. 5, Part 1 (Oct., 1962), pp. 1052-1056.

DE BONT Raf, « The Creation of Prehistoric Man: Aimé Rutot and the Eolith Controversy, 1900–1920 », Isis, vol. 94(4), 2003, p. 604-630.

ELMER Margot, « Construire l’internationalisme. Communication, adaptation et réseaux des étudiants étrangers de l’Université Nouvelle de Bruxelles (1894-1914) », Revue du Nord, 2022/1-2 (n° 442-443), p. 169-195.

ENGERRAND Jorge, & Fernando URBINA, “Nota preliminar acerca de un yacimiento prehistorico ubicado en Concepción(estado de Campeche) acompañada de un resumen frances”, Boletín de La Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, vol. 6, no. 1, 1909, p. 79–87.

GRAHAM John H., “George C. Engerrand in Mexico, 1907-1917”, Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society, 1961, Vol. 32, p. 19-31

MELTZER, David J., “The Antiquity of Man and the Development of American Archaeology.” Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, 6, 1983, p. 1–51

MOSQUETE Teresa Vicente, “Geografía y ciencia en la Universidad Nueva de Bruselas: 1894-1919”, Historia de las ciencias y de las técnicas, coord. por Luis Español González et al., vol. 2, 2004, p. 937-957.

NEWCOMBE W. W. Jr, “George C. Engerrand in Europe, 1898-1907”, Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society, 1961, Vol. 32, p. 9-17.

PODGORNY Irina, “Human Origins in the New World? Florentino Ameghino and the Emergence of Prehistoric Archaeology in the Americas (1875–1912)”, PaleoAmerica: A Journal of Early Human Migration and Dispersal, 1, 2015, p. 68–80.

RUIZ Carmen, Insiders and Outsiders in Mexican Archaeology (1890-1920). Tesis doctoral en filosofía. Texas University, Austin, 2003.

RUTSCH Mechthild, “”Vivir de una vida nueva”. Jorge Engerrand (1877-1961), entre la antropología mexicana y la estadounidense de principios del siglo XX”, Nueva Antropología. Revista de Ciencias Sociales, n° 73, 2010, p. 147-169.

TALADOIRE Eric, “George Charles Marius Engerrand (1877-1961) y la Escuela Internacional de México”, Arqueología, (61), p. 165–183.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the teams at the Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo and the Museo de Geología de la UNAM for their support and assistance with this research.