Acknowledgments
I would like to extend a special thanks to Serge Lewuillon (lecturer at the Université de Picardie Jules-Verne and associate professor of ancient history at the Université de Bourgogne) (†), who devoted time to reviewing my entire study and encouraged my research. My colleague and friend Vincent Guichard (director of the public cultural cooperation institution Bibracte) also deserves my sincere thanks for his unwavering support. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to John Collis (Professor Emeritus, University of Sheffield), who provided one of the illustrations for this book, and to Barry Cunliffe (Professor Emeritus, University of Oxford) for his invaluable advice regarding the publication of my book. His support, his willingness to help, and his expertise were of great assistance, and I am deeply indebted to him.
I am deeply indebted to Patrick Galliou, professor emeritus at the Université de Bretagne occidentale, and to Ailsa Campbell, a professional translator specializing in English and French, for their remarkable work translating my study. Their mastery of the technical terminology of protohistoric archaeology, ancient history, and social anthropology was essential. Thanks to their patience and commitment, they were able to faithfully transcribe my thoughts. I would like to express my gratitude to Dorothée Censier and Jacqueline Campaner for the time they devoted to proofreading the various versions of my manuscript. Their help was invaluable.
I would also like to thank my colleagues and friends at the UMR 6298 ARTEHIS laboratory of the CNRS–University of Burgundy (Dijon), who have supported me throughout these years.
I am particularly grateful to the editorial board of Mnemosyne, Supplements, History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity for agreeing to include my study in the series and to Giulia Moriconi, Associate Editor for Classics at Brill, for her help throughout the editorial process.
The translation of this book was made possible thanks to the financial support of the UMR 6298 ARTEHIS laboratory of the CNRS–University of Burgundy (Dijon) and the Archaeological Society of Sens. I would like to express my thanks to Sabine Lefebvre, director of the UMR 6298, and Jean-Luc Dauphin (†), president of the Archaeological Society of Sens.
Finally, I dedicate a special thought to Fabienne Ravoire and my daughters, Bérengère and Gabrielle, and my niece Ann-Sophie, who have always shown understanding in accepting that I often devote my time to my professional commitments, sometimes to the detriment of our family life. Their moral and affectionate support has been invaluable.