Aurore Didier

Aurore Didier (born 1978) is a French archaeologist and researcher.^[1] At the French National Center for Scientific Research, she is in charge of the ‘Indus-Balochistan programme’, and director of the French Archaeological Mission in the Indus Basin. Her primary interest is South Asian protohistory, specifically the Bronze Age in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands (3000 BCE) and the Indus Valley Civilization.^[2][3]

Early life and education

Didier was raised near Paris, alongside her older brother and her younger brother.^[4] She was raised in an artistic environment, with her father being a professional musicians involved in the film industry. Didier spent 15 years doing ballet and other dance styles as an extracurricular.^[4] She also became interested in archaeology at a young age, sparked by her mother taking her to museums every week.^[4] By age 12, she had decided to pursue archaeology as a career.^[4]

Didier attended Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University for her master's degree, during which she focused on the Indus Valley Civilization, and her PhD in archaeology, during which she specialized in pottery.^[2][5] In 2007, she defended her PhD, based on her archaeological work in Makran, in Paris.^[4][6]

Career

Didier has worked at sites in Ladakh, India, Oman, and Turkmenistan.^[2][5] For two years, she headed pottery studies at the French-Indian Archeological programme in Ladakh.^[5]

In 2000, Didier began working in Pakistan as part of the Pakistan-French Archaeological Mission in Makran.^[5] There, she worked at Shahi Tump, a site near Turbat, overseeing excavations alongside other archaeologists.^[4][5] From 2001 until 2007, Didier spent four months each year (January to April) in Makran.^[5] In the course of doing so, Didier learned Balochi through her interactions with local colleagues and residents.^[4]

In 2012, Didier began working at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) as the head of the Indus-Balochistan program.^[2][4]

In 2013, Didier became the director of the French Archaeological Mission in the Indus Basin.^[2][7] The mission launched its first field programs in 2015.^[4] As part of these programs, Didier has worked at Chanhudaro, a site in Sindh, Pakistan.^[7][8][9]

In 2014, Didier was chosen by Catherine Jarrige to head the archaeological program at Mehrgarh in Pakistan.^[5] That same year, she received a grant from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications at Harvard University.^[2]

Publications

Books and chapters

• Didier, Aurore (2013). La production céramique du Makran (Pakistan) à l'âge du Bronze ancien. Contribution à l'étude du peuplement ancien des régions indo-iraniennes (in French). De Boccard.
• Didier, Aurore; Mutin, Benjamin; Bauvais, Sylvain; Cloquet, Christophe; Marin, Jérôme; Shalev, Sariel (2020). "Compositional Analyses of Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Ceramics from the Indo-Iranian Borderlands and southern Central Asia: Preliminary Results and Interpretations". The Roxiana Project. Archaeological Researches on Metal and Pottery Assemblages from the Oxus Basin to the Indus Valley during Protohistory. Dietrich Reimer Verlag. Retrieved 2024-02-01.

Articles

• Besenval, Roland; Didier, Aurore (2004). "Peuplement protohistorique du Kech-Makran au 3 e Millénaire av. J.-C. : l'assemblage céramique de la période IIIc sur le site de Miri Qalat". Paléorient. 30 (2): 159–177. doi:10.3406/paleo.2004.1018. ISSN 0153-9345. JSTOR 41496706.
• Jarrige, Jean-François; Didier, Aurore; Quivron, Gonzague (2011). "Shahr-i Sokhta and the Chronology of the Indo-Iranian Regions". Paléorient. 37 (2): 7–34. doi:10.3406/paleo.2011.5420. ISSN 0153-9345. JSTOR 43265265. S2CID 190282352.
• Méry, S.; Besenval, R.; Blackman, M.J.; Didier, A. (2012). "The origin of the third-millennium BC fine grey wares found in eastern Arabia". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. 42: 195–204. ISSN 0308-8421. JSTOR 41623637.
• Didier, Aurore; Mutin, Benjamin (2013-09-01). "La production céramique protohistorique du Makran pakistanais dans la compréhension des relations indo-iraniennes". Cahiers d'Asie centrale (in French) (21/22): 461–486. ISSN 1270-9247.
• Didier, Aurore (2017). "Nouvelles recherches sur les débuts de la civilisation de l'Indus au Pakistan. Les fouilles de Chanhu-Daro (Sindh)". Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 161 (2): 969–1002. doi:10.3406/crai.2017.96268. S2CID 246882972.
• Reynaud, Corentin; Thoury, Mathieu; Dazzi, Alexandre; Latour, Gaël; Scheel, Mario; Li, Jiayi; Thomas, Ariane; Moulhérat, Christophe; Didier, Aurore; Bertrand, Loïc (2020-08-18). "In-place molecular preservation of cellulose in 5,000-year-old archaeological textiles". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (33): 19670–19676. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11719670R. doi:10.1073/pnas.2004139117. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 7443972. PMID 32747556.

References