The Maison du Mage project: what remains for archaeology?

The phrase is used so often that is has almost lost its meaning: archaeology is in crisis. Actually, archaeology might always have been in such a situation. Indeed, since the 1960s, a persistent frustration often drove archaeologists to legitimate their research and practices through epistemological frameworks borrowed from other disciplines. Fruitful as they were, these exchanges may, however, have led archaeology to overlook its essential quality: that of being able to confront and record complex material assemblages. In this talk, we wish to suggest that archaeology is not primarily about understanding what happened in the past but should rather be concerned with the formation of material remains, the ways in which they accumulate, are altered, disappear or emerge. This perspective, shaped by several decades of archaeological studies of contemporary material remains, has, however, remained largely unattractive to more traditional forms of archaeological research dealing with the distant past. If truth be told, we simply do not know how the widespread adoption of such a perspective would alter the face of our discipline. Whether room exists for such an archaeological approach in traditional institutions of knowledge production is likewise uncertain. Nevertheless, archaeology can foster critical thinking and action, and it is in this perspective that we would like to present our project to investigate the so-called “Maison du Mage” (“House of the Wizard”) in Marsal (Lorraine, France). Built in the 18th century, the house experienced a brief period of fame in the 1960s-1970s when it became the centre of a criminal investigation, still unresolved to this day. Abandoned and opened since the end of the 1990s, the “Maison du Mage” attracts intrigued visitors, thrill-seekers and squatters. By their actions, they all participate in the constitution of a unique, yet poorly understood, material assemblage. How did (and do) these remains accumulate in the house since its abandonment? Can we identify, in such an incredibly complex material imbroglio, the remains of the “Maison du Mage” from the 1960s-1970s, those that gave the house its almost touristic appeal? Unlike pioneering studies concerned with the constitution of material assemblages, our project aims at developing a more prospective approach in which the traditional investigation of material remains will be strengthened by a monitoring of their evolution. Indeed, we believe that it is by following and documenting “in real time” the constitution of material remains that archaeology can fully contribute to broader reflections and critiques, whether they apply to the distant past or fuel contemporary debates.