Le Dr. Ernest Schneider et les gravures sur Grès de Luxembourg. Étude du fonds épistolaire inédit

This thesis deals with archives of the Luxemburgish dentist, Dr. Ernest Schneider (1885-1954). This kind of archives is unique for the Grand-Duchy context in the sense that its contents are documentary in nature, in contrast to other archives that contain mostly artifacts discovered during field surveys. The archives are composed of letters of correspondence between Schneider and other European archaeologists, some of which were leading figures in their area. The archives are analysed through historical and social science approaches in the first part of this dissertation and through the study of rock art in the second part. First, the letter archives are looked at through a historical network analysis. The analysis of Schneider's correspondences shows that he did not foster and maintain enduring contacts with his contacts. Therefore, the analysis results more in the establishment of a contact register than in a proper network analysis. The alteri networks form the most important source of information for Schneider's work, since these contacts take own initiatives in order to find answers to Schneider's requests.

The second part of this thesis deals with the archaeological work conducted by Schneider between 1927 and 1954. Most particularly, the results published by Schneider in 1939
in the book Material zu einer archäologischen Felskunde des Luxemburger Landes are
reviewed and updated. The content of the letters is used in this part to illustrate the
scientific argumentation of Schneider and to establish whose hypotheses were retained by Schneider for his interpretation. The analysis shows the impact of the correspondents' influence on Schneider's interpretations, given that he attributes the entire corpus of the
engravings to Prehistoric times. He defines his work as a synthesis of the Luxemburgish Pre- and Protohistory. This dating option is discarded in the present dissertation as with
regards to the engraving support and the nature of the engraved lines, the engraved figures cannot be older than the late Medieval times. Most of those engravings were made between the 19th and the 20th century, most likely during the two world wars when allied and enemy soldiers were stationed in the area of the Luxemburgish Sandstone.