- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Bronze medallion with the head of Joseph Déchelette on the front and a French army sabre and La Tène sword on the rear. [MN 29/07/2009]
- Long description
- Bronze medallion with the head of Joseph Déchelette on the front and on the reverse the sabre of a French army officer crossed with a La Tène sword, surrounded with a laurel wreath. The medallion bears the legend GALLIAE RELIQUIAS ILLUSTRAVIT PRO GALLIA MILES CECIDIT. [MN 29/07/2009]
- Geographical reference
- Cultural groups
- French
- Person
- Maker Henry Nocq
- Field collector Charles Gabriel Seligman
- Field collector Brenda Zara Seligman
- PRM source Brenda Zara Seligman
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1946
- Date collected
- By 1946
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1946
- Materials and processes
- Material Bronze Metal, Process Cast, Process Stamped
- Dimensions
- Width 40 mm, Length 90 mm, Length 60 mm, Width 68 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1946.8.118.1 Accession number: 1946.8.118.2
- Research and responses
Joseph Déchelette [born 8th January 1862] was a French archaeologist who between the years of 1897 and 1914 published over 120 books and articles on archaeology. An editorial in Antiquity [Volume 36, no. 144, pages 243–247] published to commemorate the centenary of his birth describes his archaeological career: "Déchelette came of a silk-weaving family and after his schooldays - his formal education ended with his baccalaureat at the age of 17 - he went into the family business. His uncle, Gabriel Bulliot, interested him in his excavations at Mont Beauvray (Bibracte), and he later took charge of this work, publishing in 1904, after his uncle’s death, Les Fouilles du Mont Beauvray de 1897 à 1901. Five years before this, at the age of 37, he had given up his business career to devote himself to archaeology. In 1904 - the very same year as the Bibracte book - he published his definitive work on Gallo-Roman pottery - Les Vases Céramiques Ornés de la Gaule Romaine - a three volume work with 1700 illustrations. Bibracte made him interested in other Celtic oppida. He read the work of Pic on the Hradischt of Stradonitz in Bohemia and in 1906 published a French translation of this Czech work, and in that same year - such was his versatility - he published with Gabriel Brassart, Les peintures murales du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance en Forez.". In 1908 he began work on his masterpiece, the seminal four volume Manuel d'Archeologie Prehistorique Celtique et Gallo-Romaine [published in Paris by Picard between 1909 and 1914], for many years the standard reference work for later European prehistory. On 28 July 1914 World War 1 broke out, and Déchelette enlisted in the French Army. On the 3rd October at Vingre Déchelette was killed by a shell whilst leading his company to attack. In a letter to the journal Nature on July 27 1916 [Vol 97, pages 441-442, doi: 10.1038/097441c0] Arthur Keith, President of the Royal Anthropological Institute, lamented that "of the many scientific men who have fallen in the present war none calls forth a deeper note of regret than the eminent and promising French archaeologist and anthropologist, M. Joseph Déchelette". Keith also notes that a committee had been formed to commemorate Déchelette's life and had secured M. Henry Nocq to produce a portrait plaque [held by the Musée des Antiquités Nationales]. Those wishing to support the committees work were invited to send a subscription, upon receipt of which they would receive a replica of the plaque [10 francs for bronze, 50 for silver and 80 for enamel]. On the centenary of his birth in 1962 his nephew François Déchelet published a book titled Livre d'or de Joseph Déchelette: Centenaire, 1862-1962 which provides further details of the life and work Joseph Déchelette. [MN 29/07/2009]
Search terms: Commemoration, Writing, Box, Death, Insignia, Ornament, Medal, Inscription