Auguste Moutié, Pioneer of Merovingian Archaeology, and the Spurlock Merovingian Collection at the University of Illinois

The Spurlock Museum at the University of Illinois-Urbana long has possessed an important collection of Merovingian artifacts, purchased as a study collection and rarely seen by the public. ¹ In the course of her dissertation research Barbara Oehlschlaeger-Garvey discovered that it derives essentially from the excavation of a single site, by a neglected archaeological pioneer, Auguste Moutié. The sixth biennial Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity conference, held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in March 2005. provided the opportunity not only to assess Moutié's work and its significance and to comment on the collection, but also to mount a special exhibit at the Spurlock Museum, entitled "Digging Barbarians." ²