Organisation commitee

 Jean-Philip BRUGAL (MMSH – UMR 6636)
 Armelle GARDEISEN (CNRS – UMR 5140)
 Arnaud ZUCKER (CNRS – UMR 6130 – CEPAM)

Scientific commitee

 Benvenido MARTINEZ-NAVARRO (Univ. Tarragona, Espagne)
 Philippe FOSSE (CNRS, UMR 5608, Toulouse, France)
 Maria-Rita PALOMBO (Univ. Roma, CNR, Italie)
 Christophe CHANDEZON (Univ. Montpellier III, France)
 Liora HORWITZ (Hebrew Univ., Jérusalem, Israël)
 Haskel GREENFIELD
 Jean-Marc MORICEAU (Univ. Caen, France)

Abstract

The ‘meat-eating’ animals, including Man, share the same essential subsistence needs and represent a relatively consistent group in terms of eco-ethology; one talks of carnivory. Terrestrial non-human predators are not limited to Carnivora, as represented by the families of Felidae (e.g., lion, lynx), Canidae (e.g., wolf, fox), Hyaenidae (hyaena), Ursidae (e.g., brown bear), Mustelidae (e.g., wolverine, badger) and Viverridae (e.g., genet, mongoose). Other carnivorous animals also inhabit our planet. These include crocodiles, snakes, birds of prey and even certain primates not to mention predatory aquatic predators like sharks and killer whales.

These taxa, which people perceive like fellows, are generally placed at the top of the ecological and trophic pyramid, and so have a special status in the human imagination. They, not only compete for the same shelter or food resources, but are often objects of terror and admiration. They may even be subject to human domination, taming and domestication. The predator property, sometime not very well assumed by human societies, constitutes a strong identity and rich support in mythology and human ideology.

The aim of this conference is to share our knowledge of predation and its players, especially man and carnivores - fossil, historical and modern in all their aspects – evolutionary, ecological, biological, alimentary and symbolic. The conference will, it is hoped, provide an opportunity for a dialogue between archaeologists and palaeontologists, biologists and historians, physiologists and psychoanalysts, ethnologists and philosophers around a transversal theme, in the course of time, which is to explore the special and privileged similarity between man and other predators. We shall look for parallels and compare them in term of behaviours and what they have in common.

We shall try and stress the importance of interdisciplinarity. Studies will be organised within three major themes, with no strict chronological restriction: Competition, Representation and Domination.

Informations

Jeannine François
Cépam – CNRS/UNSA, Rencontres d’Antibes
250 rue Albert Einstein, Sophia Antipolis, 06560 Valbonne – France
Phone: 04 93 95 42 99
Fax: 04 93 65 29 05
Email : colantib@cepam.cnrs.fr