Des premières communautés paysannes à la naissance de l’État dans le Centre de la France : 5000-50 a.C.

This work is devoted to the development of protohistoric political systems over a period of five millennia. The first part presents a GIS-based cartographic analysis of 8000 settlements recorded in the Patriarche database of the Ministry of Culture for the entire Centre-Val de Loire region. This enables us to visualise the evolution of settlement in this region from the beginning of sedentary farming in the early Neolithic up to the formation of the three civitates of the Turones, Carnutes and Bituriges during the Iron Age. The second part focuses in detail on three archaeological complexes emblematic of the Centre region: the famous sites of Fort Harrouard (Eure-et-Loir), Sublaines (Indreet-Loire) and Levroux (Indre) are re-examined in depth in order to reconstruct the formation of three distinctive territories in the long run. Adopting a methodological perspective derived from political anthropology, the final part offers a theoretical reflection on the birth of the state during the Iron Age. An original approach combines archaeological and textual evidence with anthropological models. From the mythical kingdom of Ambigatus to the Gallic war, archaeological data are set against the written sources and anthropological models. From the Hallstatt princely residence of Bourges to the late La Tène oppida of Berry, the political history of the Celts progressively takes shape.