As part of the decentralisation of the 17th Amiens Archaeology Film Festival, the Bibracte Museum is organising its traditional archaeology night. As last year, the choice of films is drawn from the festival selection, with the addition of two films by director David Geoffroy.

PROGRAMME

10.00 pm to 10.52 pm: Amazonia, the forgotten civilisations of the forest (52 mins)
directed by Marie Thiry, Marc Jampolsky (Imagissime, 2022)

A dense forest with a reputation for hostility, the Amazon seems to have been deserted by man since the dawn of time. Yet over the last twenty years or so, researchers have found increasing evidence of massive human occupation of the world's largest forest. Who were the people who lived there? For how long? What were their cultures and beliefs? How did they domesticate the forest? And why have they suddenly been forgotten? To answer these questions, the film sets out to meet the multidisciplinary French and international teams working in the field: landscape archaeology, archaeo-botany, LIDAR surveys, aerial exploration, excavations, soundings and 3D reconstructions. This vast investigation, led by Stephen Rostain, a pioneer in Amazonian research, takes us from the depths of the Guiana jungle to the necropolises on the banks of the Amazon, via the ornate caves in the savannahs of Monte Alegré. He also takes us to the universities and laboratories of Brazil's major cities, where experts and scientists work, often in collaboration with Indian populations.
 

11.15pm to 12.05am: Castaways of the Roman Empire (50 mins)
Directed in 2023 by Kevin Sempe, Stanislas Kraland (Imagissime).

As a crossroads of trade, the Mediterranean was an unprecedented maritime route for the Roman Empire.
Many ships sank while carrying precious cargoes destined to extend Rome's power. Today, archaeologists estimate that 20,000 wrecks lie at the bottom of its waters. Kevin Sempé goes in search of these Roman wrecks, witnesses to the trade and commercial routes of the empire, and without which Rome could never have existed. His journey begins off the coast of Italy, where the Nava Romana lies, sunk with its cargo of perfectly preserved amphorae.
 

A sneak preview of a documentary series, the fruit of over 20 years of patient archaeological research, which sheds light on the history of the Arvernes, the powerful Gallic people who gave their name to modern-day Auvergne.
A documentary series by David Geoffroy, produced by Caroline Chassaing © Court-jus Production - 2025
 

00:30: The Arvernes - Gauls on the plain (26 mins)
In Gallic times, farming on the vast Limagne plain was a major source of wealth for the Arverne people.

1:00: The Arvernes - A sanctuary for Mercury (26 mins)
Situated at the summit of the Puy de Dôme, the sanctuary of the Temple of Mercury is one of the most important in the Roman West.

1h 30 : - Making the invisible visible: chemistry in the service of archaeo-history (13 mins)
Directed by Yannick Very

Today's analytical tools offer archaeologists an innovative prospecting method, enabling them to study soil chemistry before starting excavations.
The Perseigne forest in northern Sarthe is home to a valuable medieval archaeological site. In the local memory, there is no doubt that it is a hermitage linked by an underground passage to Perseigne Abbey, which is said to have contained part of the legendary treasure of the Knights Templar... But at Perseigne, as at 16 other sites in France, the rumour mill does not have good press within the Solarchéochimie team.