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Near Caen, excavations bring to light graves and ancient cemeteries... on a future funeral site

2022-08-01T14:11:22.679Z


Excavations prior to the construction of a cemetery in Hérouville-Saint-Clair (Calvados) revealed ancient cemeteries and


Through the ages, a plot near the banks of the Orne, today in Hérouville-Saint-Clair (Calvados), definitely seems to have the characteristics conducive to the creation of cemeteries.

The future funeral site of the town located at the gates of Caen will be built near the Beauregard estate, like other cemeteries once discovered during excavations prior to the site.

By digging over a few tens of centimeters in June, archaeologists from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) have indeed discovered several ancient burials.

Fifteen tombs and a monument

Stéphanie Derrin and Emmanuel Ghesquière directed the work on the two sites examined.

The latter, a research engineer at Inrap, explains the discovery of "a first cemetery from the Bronze Age, between 1900 and 1500 BC, with about fifteen tombs as well as a monument".

The skeletons have not been preserved over time.

"In fact, several discoveries of this kind have been made between Caen and the sea. It draws circulation routes and gives indications on the organization of the territory".

With traces of a hamlet or a large farm established there for several generations.

Not far from there, in Blainville-sur-Orne, several small necropolises of the same ilk had recently been uncovered.

Archaeologists uncover a Middle Neolithic storage silo in Hérouville-Saint-Clair, during preventive excavations for the construction of the future cemetery of the town.

DR/Emmanuel Ghesquière

This dynamic presence on the banks of the river and not far from the sea is supported by other elements on the same excavation site: five pits from the Middle Neolithic, i.e. between 4200 and 4000 BC.

"These pits are like silos of six to nine cubic meters dug for the storage of cereals", continues Emmanuel Ghesquière.

Estimates indicate a capacity that can feed 50 to 70 people.

“We are in a rotating habitat, over long periods of time, in the same territory.

The communities settled in one place and then, sometimes after decades, were led to settle elsewhere.

»

“We found broken pottery, tools, flints”

Emmanuel Ghesquière, research engineer at Inrap

The departure seemed to be accompanied by a kind of ritual: the filling of the pits.

“We found broken pottery, with containers of all kinds, or even tools, flints.

It's a bit like a deposit, a trash can, ”explains the research engineer at Inrap.

These pits are quite rare in the region but similar sites, in Merville or Asnelles, on the coast, accredit several new theories of archaeologists, such as that of the rotating habitat.

A few meters from this site, the second site of Hérouville has enabled us to take a leap in time by unearthing a Carolingian cemetery (8th-9th century), some fifteen burials, "located 150 meters from a church.

It's not very far but not very close either, ”slips Emmanuel Ghesquière.

Among the better preserved skeletons, more than a third of young or even very young people.

Could this be the beginning of an explanation for these distant burials from the place of worship?

“We could baptize late at that time.

Perhaps these children were not baptized and therefore buried further away.

Perhaps it is also people of other faiths.

»

Read alsoDiscovered at sea by chance off Courseulles, a lead ingot from the Roman era reveals its secrets

In the region, other outlying cemeteries have been found.

It was noticed that the skeletons of these sites had more fractures.

One of the remains of Hérouville has a broken collarbone.

The bones, such as the cereals present at the bottom of the pits, or the tools, will be analyzed in detail to better understand the ancient ways of life between Caen and the sea, a privileged area since prehistoric times.

The future Hérouville cemetery will write a new page in the history of these plots from spring 2024, with more than 2000 places.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2022-08-01

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