Major archaeological discoveries can drastically change how our population views itself and its history, a researcher said Thursday.

In a Tempe campus lecture hosted by the Central Arizona Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, Bonnie Effros, a specialist in early medieval French archaeology, cited discoveries in 19th- century France and how they shattered that society’s understanding of its identity.

The lecture, “From Grave Robbery to Archaeology: Reconstructing Merovingian France,” brought more than 100 students and faculty to the Tempe campus

Effros spoke about her groundbreaking research that studies 19th-century archaeology and the mindset of those who originally excavated graves in Merovingian, France — the period between the late antique and Middle Ages.

Effros, a professor at the University of Florida, spoke about discoveries of many cemeteries from this period during the 1800s.

“In the 1830s and the decades that followed, France went through enormous changes, most important of which was industrialization,” she said, explaining that it was during this industrialization that excavations of these cemeteries took place.

“Most French in the 1830s believed they were descendants of the ancient Gauls,” Effros said. “These individuals were interested in the history of their region.”

When archaeologists discovered the cemeteries during industrialization, however, most of the remains were Germanic, not Celtic.

“Germanic contributions to France were greater than previously believed,” Effros said. “This brought up a lot of issues related to nationalism.”

Archaeology in the 1800s was not taught in universities, she said, which led to a loss of much progress in the field.

Even organizations that existed were confused about the findings, Effros said. As more Frankish cemeteries were found, it became apparent that the history of France may have been different than previously perceived.

In spite of the cemetery excavations, discoveries of Frankish artifacts were often overshadowed by discoveries of Celtic artifacts during this time, largely because of the monarchy and mindset that existed.

The ultimate horror the French experienced during the 19th century, Effros said, was that the myth of the history they believed they were a part of was largely extinguished.

ASU professor Tom Morton, president of the Central Arizona Archaeological Institute of America, said Effros’ research is important in the field of archaeology.

“Within archaeology today, we are obviously interested in aspects of gender identities,” he said. “[Her research] gives us insight into the mentality of the 19th century.”

A lot of Effros’ work has to do with burials, Morton said, which relates to the research of many faculty in ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change. Students interested in archaeology also benefit from lectures like these, he said.

“We, as an organization, choose to have our lecture[s] here at ASU because we know they can reach a much wider audience,” Morton said.

Anthropology sophomore Alicia Dinsmore said the themes, like nationalism, Effros brought up can be seen through the history of other countries beside France.

“I expected someone more scientific and tedious than a historical interpretation,” she said, adding that she enjoyed the lecture and plans to attend future ones.