The ICARE Project: Insights into the Formation and Consolidation of Archaeology in Western France (ca. 1850–1990)

Estimated at more than 70,000 images, the documentary archive of the former Laboratoire d’Anthropologie in Rennes, created by Pierre-Roland Giot during the 1950s, includes drawings on various media, photographic negatives on plate glass, films, slides and paper photos, the oldest of which date from the second half of the nineteenth century. These documents are an exceptional source of information for understanding the emergence of prehistory and archaeology in Brittany and, by extension, France. Most of the early documentary material was generated by the Groupe Finisterien d’Etudes Prehistoriques (GFEP) established at the Musee de Prehistoire de Penmarc’h. P-R. Giot (1919–2002), last surviving member of this group, preserved the GFEP archives and integrated them into the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie. His own research activity during the whole second half of the twentieth century, as well as the contributions of researchers such as J. Briard and J. L’Helgouac’h, led to continual additions of material to the dataset. The ICARE (Iconographie et Collections d’Anthropologie de Rennes) Project aims at analysing, preserving and disseminating this priceless source of information.