The Société des sciences naturelles, archéologiques et historiques de la Creuse has just published a book "sum" on the sarcophagi of the department, the result of a study carried out by Jacques Roger, a research engineer at the regional archaeological service.
The work of inventory of sarcophagi carried out since 2009 in the department of the Creuse has made it possible to considerably renew our knowledge of the existing documentation, based on historical and archaeological data, most often disseminated in a confidential manner. The field analysis of more than 170 tanks spread over nearly 60 communes has made it possible to propose a new morphological classification, as well as a first spatial and chronological approach. In addition, the discovery of sarcophagi in stratigraphic context during recent excavations around the churches allows to better understand the cemetery of the high Middle Ages in this department, from its topography to its environment.
This book, which brings together all the available documentation (320 colour pages, more than 300 illustrations, A4 format), is divided into three distinct parts. The first part corresponds to the analysis and synthesis of the data, allowing to propose a first typo-chronological draft and a preliminary approach of the cemetery of the High Middle Ages in the Creuse. The second part is devoted to the petrographic inventory and the geographical origin of the materials used. The book is then illustrated by a complete catalogue of each site that delivered sarcophagi. Finally, the metric data of each object and the bibliography complete this work in appendix.
The sarcophagi of the department of Creuse: a contribution to the study of funeral practices in the upper Middle Ages, Jacques Roger with the collaboration of Richard Delhoume and Jean-Pierre Floc'h. - Guéret: Société des sciences naturelles, archéologiques et historiques de la Creuse, 2015. - 320 pp. no. ill. - (Études Creusoises, XXIII) - ISBN 9782903661496 - 18 €