dAf 44
BARAY Luc, DEFFRESSIGNE Sylvie, LEROYER Chantal et VILLEMEUR Isabelle
Nécropoles protohistoriques du Sénonais
Serbonnes / La Créole, Michery / La Longue Raie, Soucy / Mocques Bouteilles (Yonne)
This volume presents the first result of archaeological work carried out during the construction of the A5 and the A160 Melun- Troyes motorways. Three protohistoric burial-grounds, situated between Montereau and Sens, form the subject of a publication following several lines ; as well as a comparative study of the structures and small finds there is useful information about the funeral rites and the methods of inhumation. These are the combined results of a complementary approach between archaeologists, anthropologists and pollen specialists. The presentation of these sites is followed by a study of the population of Burgundy from the late Bronze age to the Iron age.
Abstract
Abstract
1. Introduction
L. BARAY
The construction of the A5 motorway gave an opportunity to complete the corpus of protohistoric sites, based on discoveries from the beginning of this century, in the Yonne valley and the surrounding area. The first regional synthesis, by A. Hure in 1931, established the prehistory of the Sénonais. Research has continued from the end of the 1940's until the present day, impelled by P. Parruzot, H. Carré, J.-Y Prampart, J.-P. Delor, A. Heurtaux, etc. The Icaunais landscape is defined by three geomorphological types which condition human settlement: valley bottoms, slopes and plateaux. The river Yonne and it's tributaries allow good communications north-south and east-west.
2. The necropolis at Serbonnes / La Créole : the enclosures E4 and E5 (1989 excavations)
L. BARAY, I. VILLEMEUR, H. DUDAY
A large necropolis in the Sénonais composed of some twenty enclosures spread over an area of 2 ha. The rescue dig for the AS, which concentrated on two rectangular enclosures, was preceded by two seasons of excavations during 1959 and 1960. The enclosure E4 included a score of burials, 16 of which contained skeletal remains. These were primary inhumations, with one example of a reduction. Archaeological and anthropological studies show two practices: inhumation within an empty space (timber coffers in six cases) or within a filled space (a simple grave in five cases), in the middle of quadrangular pits parallel with the sides of the enclosure. Fourteen of the individuals were certainly adults: was this enclosure reserved for them ? And does this represent a group from a distinct social strata? Items of costume account for over a third of the small finds: rings, beads, wild-boar's tusks. An iron belt-buckle, a fired clay ring and numerous brooches (iron, bronze and iron-bronze composite) constitute the body of clothing accessories. Weapons are also present: sword and scabbard, bronze suspension rings and spearheads. A comparative study of these finds and of the funeral practices allow us to recognise 4 chronological phases between the 5th and the first quarter of the 3rd centuries B.C., with an intense occupation during the La Tène B2 which correlates with the great upheavals of the first half of the 3rd century B.C.
3. The necropolis at Michery / La Longue Raie
S. DEFFRESSIGNE, L. BARAY, J. BOUILLOT, N. GINOUX, I. VILLEMEUR
This burial-ground consists of a circular enclosure, four small quadrangular enclosures with inhumations and cremations, and a group of three tombs. The enclosures would seem to correspond to a type of "family plot" since a certain spatial organisation and ritual appear to have been respected (protection by a caisson or by being sealed by large blocs of sandstone). The tombs contain items of costume, notably a compound torc and a sword-scabbard decorated by a pair of opposed griffons-,- Date range: the end of the early La Tène and the start of the middle La Tène period.
4. The necropolis at Soucy / Mocques Bouteilles
L. BARAY, I. LE GOFF, D. THÉBAULT, I. VILLEMEUR
A vast necropolis from the late Bronze Age IIIb and the La Tène period, situated to the north of Sens. The first excavations of 1979-1981 were integrated into the operations for the A5, the site being uncovered over an area of more than 3 ha. Some 20 circular enclosures, five individual tombs (primary burials) and a cremation belong to the first period. The dating has been securely established following a comparative study of the small finds (rings, glass and bronze beads, pins and potteries), the orientation of certain tombs and the types of enclosure.
This study has been an occasion to refine the typo-chronology of circular enclosures, in the context of the european bronze-age, and to discern the evolution of funeral practices of the late Bronze age IIIb and early Hallstatt periods at a regional level : appearance and continuation of inhumation, coexistence with cremation, enclosure dimensions, etc.
The La Tène necropolis includes 7 quadrangular enclosures (which are also the object of a wider typo chronological study), 20 inhumations, 7 cremations and a pit or silo used in a funerary context. The inhumations are all primary burials, excepting the case of one skeleton with no skull. Archaeological and anthropological evidence shows the utilisation of wooder coffers or caissons, packed with small stones or covered by large blocks of sandstone. There is no correlation between the orientation of the tombs and their chronology. The small finds consist of dress items such as bracelets and rings, numerous brooches, belt fittings, a belt made of chains, as well as weaponny such as swords and scabbards, suspension rings, spearheads and shield rims. Four phases have been recognised, going from La Tène A to La Tène C, which correspond with four zones of occupation. Finally, one notes a gallo-roman tomb and a burial ground dated to around the 5th to 8th centuries A.D., placed at the heart of the protohistoric structures.
5. The pollen analysis
C. LEROYER
The pollen analysis is based on a series of samples taken from the fills of the enclosure ditches and from the tombs of these three necropoli. The aim of this method of sampling was to determine the plant environment by studying the ditch fills, and the funeral practices by looking at the burial deposits. The unreliability of the evidence from Soucy, and the obvious distorsions in the data from Serbonnes rather limit the value of the palaeo ecological studies. On the other hand, the analysis of the tomb at Michery and at Serbonnes provide a rich source of information about the burial rites.
6. The burial grounds in a regional context
L. BARAY
It is now possible to propose a demographic distribution of the late bronze age and iron age populations in the Yonne valley and the surrounding areas, despite the rather "tributary" nature of the results of this research. Founded, in particular, on the distribution and the composition of the burial grounds, as well as on the corpus of settlements and hoards, this research allows us not only to establish certain correlations between the traditional chronological phases and the distribution of the sites, but also to bring out the level of socio-territorial integration of the proto-historic populations.
