dAf 54
PININGRE Jean-François
Nécropoles et société au premier âge du Fer :
le tumulus de Courtesoult (Haute-Saône)
A large campaign of excavations has saved the gaulish tumulus of Courtesoult (Haute- Saône) from destruction. These researches have put into evidence two main phases of construction and use of the monument which includes 45 tombs. These have been the subject of detailed anthropological and palaeodemographical studies. The typological analysis of the small finds, mainly composed of dress items (brooches, bracelets, belt hooks, coral beads), gives a date ranging from the Hallstatt D1 to the La Tène A period. The data from Courtesoult can be put up against that of other burial sites, such as Gy, Mantoche or Savoyeux. It gives further details concerning the evolution of funeral practices from the first Iron Age in the region between the Jura and Burgundy. This area had hitherto given rise to no recent research for this period.
Abstract
Abstract
The tumulus at Courtesoult (Haute-Saône) dates from the first Iron Age and is situated close to the river Le Salon, a tributary of the right bank of the upper reaches of the Saône. It was the subject of a rescue excavation from August to October 1987, deemed necessary Because of heavy plough damage.
Before the excavation the tumulus had the form of a flattened mound some 30 m in diameter and 0.70 m high. Two phases of construction have been distinguished. The first consists of a tumulus with a Diameter of 9 m surrounded by a ditch, the spoil of which had been thrown to the outside. The second phase sees the filling in of the ditch and the levelling up of the tumulus so as to allow the insertion of later burials.
The interest of this isolated mound comes from the important number of burials which it contained. The estimated minimum number of individuals is 47, counting in the burials disturbed before the excavation. This figure includes 36 single or multiple inhumations in varying states of preservation, along with six cremations in burials with more than one type of ritual.
The internal sequences of these burials are dated by the small finds of some 30 graves which allows us to follow the different stages in the use of the monument from Hallstatt D1 to La Tène A. The material is rich and abundant, consisting mainly of dress accoutrements (brooches, bracelets, ankle-rings and belt hooks, as well as beads of coral, glass, amber and bronze). It provides a particularly rich sequence for our understanding of the chronology of the end of the Hallstatt period for the area north of the Jura. Four chronological groups or phases can be distinguished and aligned on those proposed by german archaeologists:
- phase 1, Ha D1, Parzinger 6;
- phase 2, Ha D1-D2, Parzinger 7a;
- phase 3, Ha D2, Parzinger 7b-c;
- phase 4, Ha D3-early La Tène A, Parzinger 8-9.
This chronology clearly shows up a more recent horizon of the Hallstatt Dl period (7a for Parzinger),an evolution of the dress accoutrements between Ha D2 and 03 as well as the isolation of assemblages from the start of the early La Tène period.
The study of the funeral practices puts the accent on the organisation of the burials. The use of different types of coffins (monoxylic or composite structures) was deduced from the observation of staining left by organic matter and by taphonomic considerations. A typology of the different arrangements of stones was also attempted (surrounds, packing, caissons or chambers made of slabs).
The analysis of the funeral costumes goes hand in hand with that of the anthropological data (age and sex of the deceased). A sociological approach can therefore be adopted for the appreciation of a human community which lasted for nearly two centuries in the context of the western Hallstatt culture.
The evolution of the organisation of the graves in the tumulus is supported by an anthropological and palaeodemographical approach. Two principal stages can be observed. The first of these consists of the richly furnished inhumation of a woman surrounded by later graves. These present a concentric organisation, the earliest towards the centre and the latest towards the periphery of the monument. The two sexes are equally represented around the central burial (phases 1 and 2). The phase 3 and 4 graves are divided into a predominantly female group to the north and a predominantly masculine group to the south. A disturbed or robbed triple grave also belongs to this period, situated to the east of the centre. The contribution of this study allows a discussion about the selection of the population of the tumulus (children under five years old being under-represented) and the structure of the group and its demographic "components".
The data from the tumulus of Courtesoult, in a context from the region between the Jura and Burgundy, can be put against that of the contemporary burial grounds of the Jura and of the upper basin of the Saône. Some of these are partially unpublished (the tumuli of Gy, Bucey-les-Gy, Savoyeux, Venère and Montarlot-lès- Champlitte, as well as the burial ground at Mantoche). Such a comparison clarifies the evolution of funeral practices between the end of the 7th century B.C. and the second half of the 5th century B.C., particularly in a region where no recent studies have been carried out on the first Iron Age.
The small finds put the accent on the special links which unite the upper basin of the Saône to the jurassien and northern alpine territories. These are represented by items of dress with an inter-regional distribution ("barrel " or "tubular" arm-bands, snake-shaped brooches). Parallel to this, the Saône valley, the Jura and Burgundy find themselves associated by local productions. Finally, the tumulus can be placed within the evolutionary framework of the princely societies of the end of the Hallstatt period on the basis of data available from the upper basin of the Saône: the aristocratic and princely burial sites of Mantoche, Apremont, Mercey and Savoyeux, as well as the fortified settlements on the plains.
