Marcel Otte, a professor of prehistory at the University of Liège, and the only European co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology(1), describes how the encyclopaedia came to be and explains the divide that currently exists within the archaeological community. He also takes the opportunity to present another of his books, which examines what he views as a major European event: the encounter between Neanderthal populations that had been living here for millennia, and Cro-Magnons from Asia, which took place 40,000 years ago.

Few disciplines are not divided into different currents of thought or strongly conflicting approaches. Archaeology is no exception, and there are now two staunchly opposed branches of prehistoric research, with different origins. The "European" side – a simplification – generally prioritises research on populations that no longer exist, while English-speakers – spearheaded by Australians and Americans – believe that contemporary populations with no written language also deserve a voice. This split is reflected in the existence of two international "federations". The first branch is represented by the venerable International Union of Pre- and Proto-Historic Sciences (IUPPS), and the second branch belongs to the World Archaeological Congress (WAC). This "schism", to use the term employed by Marcel Otte, a Prehistory professor at the University of Liège, occurred in 1986 during a IUPPS Congress in Southampton, Great Britain. This schism was actually caused by… apartheid! That year, archaeologists were split into two camps: those, mostly European, who didn't think that South African and Namibian representatives should be allowed to attend, and those, mostly from the US and developing world, who believed science to be independent and thought people living under the yoke of apartheid should be given the opportunity to express themselves. At a meeting in Paris before the Congress, the IUPPS' governing body decided not to recognize the Southampton Congress, which then became the WAC’s founding Congress. "In the 1990s", recalls Marcel Otte, "I was part of the IUPPS executive committee. And it's in that role that I attended the 1999 WAC Congress in Cape Town, in South Africa! Quite a symbolic gesture given the history of the WAC... I tried to re-establish ties between the two groups, not to merge our different approaches, but so that we could work together. I said that the two organisations needed to meet. I believe that the societies that we study are not prehistoric but simply have no written language, which is not the same thing. The Celts and Germanic peoples chose not to write, which doesn't mean that they couldn't. Therefore, we should listen to existing populations who also choose not to write. It's not that they don't know about written language, but rather that they reject this medium as an intellectual record of their destiny. And they stand behind that decision. I think it's because of this attempt to collaborate and the fact that I've always been on good terms with the WAC that I was invited to contribute to this encyclopaedia! It's a monumental project that was started several years ago." Marcel Otte is indeed one of the few European authors among all the contributors and twenty-some editors. The encyclopaedia, whose editor in chief, Claire Smith, was president of the WAC until last year, is indeed a reflection of the IUPPS's dissenting faction.

(1) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, Smith Claire, Editor-in-chief, Springer, New York, 2014. More information