Conspicuous absences in late antique Gallic funerary texts, VI-VII centuries CE : errors, erasures, or inscribing uncertainty?

Abstract

Morgane Uberti recently noted the intentional creation of textual lacunae in the dating formulae of inscriptions from post-Roman Gaul. By analyzing the wider preservation of textual and material lacunae in epigraphic formulae from sixth- and seventh-century Gaul, this chapter argues that we need to re-assess our tendency to view these deviations as errors and consider how far conspicuous absences functioned as forms of public memory negotiation that extended beyond the political sphere to encompass wider social standing. These patterns mirror aspects of the Roman erasure processes and, through juxtaposition, shed light on the distinctive features of late Roman erasure.