1The excavation conducted in 2017 by Inrap of the site at 509 avenue des Noyers (Bouc-Bel-Air, Bouches-du-Rhône, France) revealed a settlement that lasted from the Middle Neolithic to Late Antiquity. The burial area, with 286 tombs, is located in the centre of an ancient plot and covers an area of 4,200 m² (Rigeade 2019).

2The remains from Antiquity found at the avenue des Noyers site correspond essentially to a district devoted to agriculture, with networks of ditches defining the contours of plots of land. The necropolis established at the end of Antiquity seems to have fitted into this pre-existing framework. The path leading to it, which runs along the eastern edge of the burial area, reuses the ancient guiding axis: the course of the eastern wall of this road is superimposed on one of the ancient ditches. This may suggest the survival of the ancient agricultural layout, with the ditches between plots orienting and dictating the establishment of the necropolis in Late Antiquity (fig. 1).

Fig. 1. View from the east of wall MR 1480 showing the eastern edge of the necropolis.

3The chronology of the necropolis has been determined thanks to the dating of the grave goods found in the tombs, the residual pottery found in the fill of the grave pits, and 11 radiocarbon datings of skeletal remains. These datings place the period of use of this funerary complex from the end of the 2nd century to the middle of the 7th century.

4The funerary area seems to have been continuously occupied and organized, with no superposition on previous phases of inhumation. Nevertheless, there seem to be three different chronological sub-complexes. The oldest is found in the north of the site, with tombs dated to between the 2nd and 4th centuries. This complex is characterized by the deposition of bodies in an east–west orientation, with the head to the east, and by the presence of pottery offerings in the majority of cases. The second sub-complex is represented by 147 graves from between the 3rd and 6th centuries. The dead were inhumed exclusively in a west–east orientation, with the head to the west, but the spatial organization of the sub-complex is rather unclear. There seems to be a central cluster of graves around which other graves are located in a less defined pattern. At the eastern and western extremities, the tombs are organized in rows that run perpendicular to the elements that structure the landscape.

5The third, latest sub-complex, comprising 125 graves, was then established to the west of the necropolis from the 5th to the 7th century. The orientation of the bodies remains similar to that of the previous phase, with the head to the west. In contrast, funerary architecture becomes the norm in this period, with the almost exclusive use of tile cists (with triangular or rectangular sections). This final inhumation phase is also characterized by a unique spatial organization, with small rows arranged in a concentric semi-circle running from west to east.

6Generally speaking, this funerary area was used efficiently over a long period. There do not seem to have been any restrictions on its expansion over time, nor any demographic pressure (for example from a period of elevated mortality). Only over one short period do the funerary practices give us a glimpse of potential difficulties in the management of the funerary area. There are only three instances of superposition, and just one case of skeletal reduction, in the entire necropolis. Moreover, these practices may equally have been a consequence of location choice rather than of a shortage of space in the burial area.

7Among the 300 graves found in the necropolis, only 19 funerary assemblages contained pottery or amphorae. Nine of these were “tombs with offerings,” while the other 10 contained reused amphorae. The pottery and amphorae date from between the 4th century and the end of the 7th century, thus demonstrating the continued use of the necropolis, although the pottery is solely from the 4th century: a change in funerary rituals after that time put an end to the custom of placing offerings in tombs. The graves containing amphorae date from no earlier than the 5th century.

8The spatialization of the data from this funerary complex suggests that the necropolis was originally organized in a nuclear pattern, as shown by the oldest graves containing offerings. In a second phase, the topography evolved towards a stricter and more homogenous spatial organization, resembling that seen at the contemporary local sites of Marseille or of Vaison-la-Romaine. The rare pottery offerings found at Bouc-Bel-Air are surprisingly consistent with those found at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, but they are not accompanied by the kind of rich ceremonial objects that might have revealed the presence of elites within the funerary area. The Noyers site is, however, distinguished by the great heterogeneity of the funerary architecture used.

9This necropolis, then, helps to refine our knowledge of the occupation dynamics of the paleo-Christian cemetery and the evolution of funerary practices in the transition period that is Late Antiquity. Nevertheless, the finds at Bouc-Bel-Air are not just of interest in terms of topography or funerary architecture. On the contrary, the investigation of funerary rituals and practices has demonstrated the total absence of cremation and the steady but rapid abandonment of the custom of placing offerings in tombs. These hints of a profound transformation of mentalities remain, however, tenuous in the absence of extensive excavation of this complex.