PARIS.- A team from Inrap has uncovered unusual Gallic burials – a series of deceased individuals buried sitting – during the excavation related to the restructuring of the Joséphine Baker school complex in Dijon. Carried out under the instruction of the State (Drac Bourgogne-Franche-Comté), between October and December 2024, over an area of approximately 1,000 m², this excavation also uncovered remains spanning, discontinuously, from antiquity to the contemporary period.
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Unusual burials
The oldest layers of the plot, likely dating from the second Iron Age, revealed a series of 13 burials. These circular pits, approximately one metre in diameter and evenly spaced from one another, form a straight strip 25 m long, running from south to north. These structures are generally well preserved despite significant erosion that caused the displacement or even destruction of the least buried bones. The deceased are adults placed in the same manner, sitting at the bottom of the pit, their backs against the eastern wall of the pit, facing west. Their arms rest alongside their torsos, with their hands placed near the pelvis or femurs. Their legs are highly bent, often in an asymmetrical manner. With the exception of a black stone armband (dated between 300 and 200 BCE), no personal items or adornments are associated with the remains. It can be dated back to the Gallic period.
In the 1990s, a nearby excavation in the Sainte-Anne district uncovered two burials of this type. This proximity would suggest a shared settlement extending from the Turgot street plot towards the north, where an area (dated between the end of the Gallic period and the beginning of the 1st century CE) has been identified, structured by the construction of a large defensive ditch and a roadway bordered by an area dedicated to the burial of animals. This complex includes the deposition of complete skeletons of dogs, sheep and pigs, a practice that may indicate the presence of a place of worship from the late Gallic period.
Some possible interpretations
This discovery on Rue Turgot is particularly remarkable due to the number of burials uncovered and the good preservation of the skeletons. Examples of individuals buried in a seated position are known from the Mesolithic period onwards and, although rare, are documented throughout prehistory.
It is too early to draw conclusions about the funerary use of Rue Turgot. However, the common characteristics of the graves and the uniformity of the funerary gestures suggest similar uses spanning the entirety of the La Tène period (around 450-25 BCE). Only a dozen archaeological sites have yielded around 50 "seated" individuals, whose graves are located near aristocratic dwellings or sanctuaries or places of worship, away from cemeteries. Nine of these sites are documented in France, spread across northern Gaul, and three others in Switzerland. Despite the distance between these sites, there are a number of similarities: these burial structures are located at the edge of settlements; the individuals concerned are adults, and when the sex is determined, it is male. Furthermore, the uniformity of the positions (same orientation, careful positioning of the body) is reminiscent of stone or metal representations of crouching or seated figures, dated between the late La Tène period and the early Empire. These burials suggest a practice likely intended for particular individuals.
The specific funerary treatment reserved for a limited number of individuals, whose bodies rest in a codified manner, raises questions about their status: were they members of dominant families, warriors, ancestors, or individuals linked to political or religious spheres?
During the 1st century CE, a Gallo-Roman necropolis dedicated to the burial of around 20 children, who likely died before the age of one, was established in a large part of the explored area. Its boundaries are not confirmed, as the installation of planting pits, ditches and agricultural work during the modern period has erased several graves.
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