The peri-urban necropolises of Late Antiquity in Burgundy: funerary practices and topography—Abridged version
p. 381-397
Résumés
In the ancient administrative region of Burgundy, the analysis of several peri-urban necropolises provides a better understanding of funerary phenomena from the middle of the 3rd century to the beginning of the 6th century. Older discoveries and recent archaeological work in the cities of Sens, Auxerre, Dijon, Beaune, Autun, Chalon-sur-Saône and Mâcon offer the possibility of establishing various particularities of the funerary practices, inherited from the High Roman Empire, that operated in the necropolises on the outskirts of these cities. The internal topography of the funerary spaces, from the point of view of the orientation of the tombs, their marking and their organization, shows a transitional phase between the High Antiquity and the Merovingian period, with the need to bring the necropolises closer to the new city limits becoming preponderant. The funerary world of Late Antiquity, within the Burgundian peri-urban funerary areas, has thus undergone progressive changes since the High Roman Empire that brings it closer to that of the Early Medieval cemetery.
En ancienne Bourgogne administrative, l’analyse de plusieurs nécropoles péri-urbaines permet de mieux appréhender les phénomènes funéraires du milieu du iiie siècle au début du vie siècle. Les villes de Sens, Auxerre, Dijon, Beaune, Autun, Chalon-sur-Saône et Mâcon ont en effet fait l’objet de découvertes anciennes et d’opérations archéologiques récentes qui offrent la possibilité de donner diverses particularités des pratiques funéraires héritées du Haut-Empire au sein des nécropoles situées en périphérie de ces agglomérations. La topographie interne des espaces funéraires, du point de vue de l’orientation des tombes, du marquage de celles-ci et de leur organisation montre quant à elle une phase de transition entre la haute Antiquité et la période mérovingienne. La nécessité de rapprocher les nécropoles des nouvelles limites des villes devient prépondérante. Le monde funéraire de l’Antiquité tardive, au sein des aires funéraires péri-urbaines bourguignonnes, connaît ainsi des changements progressifs depuis le Haut-Empire qui le rapproche de celui du cimetière altomédiéval.
Entrées d’index
Mots-clés : Bourgogne, péri-urbain, transition, cercueil, organisation interne, topographie
Keywords : Burgundy, peri-urban, transition, coffin, internal organization, topography
Note de l’éditeur
This article is not a translation but an abridged version of the French article “Les nécropoles péri-urbaines de l’Antiquité tardive en Bourgogne. Pratiques funéraires et topographie”. Translated and edited by Cadenza Academic Translations.
This article was written in collaboration with Stéphane Alix (Inrap, Dijon, France - UMR 6249 Chrono-environnement), Daniel Barthèlemy (Inrap, Mâcon, France - UMR 5138 ARAR), Céline Capdeville (Inrap, Dijon, France), Frédéric Devevey (Inrap, Limoges, France), Loic Gaëtan (Inrap, Dijon - UMR 6298 ARTEHIS), Michel Kasprzyk (Inrap, Saint-Martin-sur-le-Pré, France - UMR 6298 ARTEHIS), Yannick Labaune (Archaeology service of Autun, Autun, France - UMR 6298 ARTEHIS), Jeremy Maestracci (Inrap, Dijon), Pierre Nouvel (University of Burgundy, Department of archaeology and art history - UMR 6298 ARTEHIS), Luc Staniaszek (Inrap, Dijon - UMR 6298 ARTEHIS) and Nicolas Tisserand (Inrap, Dijon - UMR 6298 ARTEHIS).
Texte intégral
1The following study aims to provide an overview of Late Antique peri-urban funerary sites in the administrative region of Burgundy. It aims to describe the issues associated with this region from the middle of the 3rd century to the beginning of the 6th century, based on the analysis of older discoveries as well as data from recent appraisals and excavations. The geographical area covered includes the peri-urban necropolises of the following cities: Autun (Fossurier, forthcoming), Auxerre (Sapin 1998), Beaune (Gaillard de Sémainville, Sapin, Maranski 1995), Chalon-sur-Saône (Devevey 2005), Dijon (Alix 2019), Mâcon (Capdeville 2020), and Sens (Nouvel et al. 2015; fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Location of the principal towns in the roman administrative region of Burgundy included in this study.
C. Fossurier, Inrap.
1. Funerary practices
2The vast majority of tombs are individual; multiple graves are very rare and strict superposition only occurs at Saint-Pierre-l’Estrier in Autun. Individuals are almost all placed on their back, with the lower limbs extended and the upper limbs in a variety of positions.
3Multiple types of containers were used in different funerary complexes, with wooden coffins the most common type of inhumation container. Lead coffins (fig. 5) and stone sarcophagi are more rarely found. There are a total of five possible gabled tombs. Double-layered containers consist exclusively of lead coffins, almost always placed within a wooden coffin and exceptionally in a stone sarcophagus.
Fig 5. Lead coffin from grave 35 at the Saint-Pierre-l’Estrier site in Autun.
N. Tisserand, Inrap.
4There are few grave goods, whether worn on the body or deposited, at any of the sites in the corpus, although they seem to be more common in rural areas. Worn grave goods are present although only in small numbers. Deposited objects are rare in peri-urban areas.
2. Internal topography
5Graves follow the same orientation at almost all sites, with tombs generally aligned west–east, with the head to the west. These broad patterns seem consistent with major topographic elements like funerary monuments or ditches. Mausolea may exert a very strong influence although it is not possible to determine whether it is the mausoleum that orients the overall layout of the necropolis or whether, on the contrary, it is this overall layout that influences the location of the mausolea. As for roads, they do not seem to play a major role in the orientation of tombs.
6Very few signs of grave markers, other than large structures, have been identified. Nevertheless, the fact that inhumations are not superimposed suggests that graves must have been marked with perishable materials. Mausolea, which are of very variable dimensions, are clearly identified in the region’s peri-urban necropolises (fig. 16).
Fig. 16. Plan of the Saint-Pierre-l’Estrier necropolis in Autun, with a double ditch in the north-west and graves concentrated near the mausolea.
A. Tisserand, SAVA, J. Maestracci, N. Tisserand, C. Fossurier, Inrap.
7The internal organization of necropolises remains difficult to perceive. There seems to be some differentiation of sectors, sometimes separated by a ditch. These areas differ in terms of funerary practices (type of container, quantity and type of grave goods, and presumably chronology).
3. Topographical location
8From the end of the 3rd century to the middle of the 4th, there was a contraction and/or shift of urban areas to inside town walls. The new necropolises were located between 80 and 1,600 m from the town wall (fig. 19), with most funerary areas created near the new town limit. The location of funerary areas does not seem to have been determined by the principal road network, with secondary routes proving sufficient. The necropolis of Cordiers, Mâcon, is an exception in this context. The funerary area there remained in the same place for four centuries, despite the contraction of the town. No geographic features seem to have predetermined the location of a necropolis. Rather, a sort of opportunism regarding available land seems to have been decisive.
Fig. 19. Table of distances between fortified walls and new necropolises.
| Ville et lieu-dit | Distance nécropole / enceinte (m) |
| Autun « Saint-Pierre-l'Estrier » | 1260 |
| Autun « La Grillotière » | 1580 |
| Auxerre « Saint-Germain » | 150 |
| Beaune « Saint-Etienne » | 150 |
| Chalon « Saint-Jean-des-Vignes » | 700 |
| Chalon « Saint-Martin-des-Champs » | 1150 |
| Dijon « Saint-Benigne » | 330 |
| Dijon « Saint-Michel » | 80 |
| Sens « Saint-Jean » | 200 |
| Sens « Rue Champbertrand » | 680 |
A. Burgevin, Inrap.
Conclusion
9Funerary practices in Burgundy seem to have been, for the most part, inherited from the High Roman Empire, as shown by the use of the same containers and of deposits in the tombs. Nevertheless, the emergence and development of certain types of funerary architecture, like sarcophagi or cists, reflect gradual changes in inhumation methods. Although inhumations are almost entirely absent in Classical Antiquity, they became very common in the Early Middle Ages. The internal topography of necropolises, meanwhile, changed markedly: instead of being organized within an enclosure, with possible signs of family or social groupings, the new norm was for a highly structured arrangement, generally around a west–east axis. Rows and lines of graves appeared and separate sectors were formed. Funerary monuments like mausolea became central features. Some of them were later transformed into religious buildings, thus giving rise to a new cemetery. Preventive archaeology has revealed the existence of necropolises that antedate these buildings. Funerary spaces were managed more intensively and overlaps seem to be the result of the prestige of inhumation ad sanctos. At the dawn of the Early Middle Ages the establishment of new Christian settlements around towns generated new inhumation areas. Late Antiquity in Burgundy, therefore, seems to have been a period of gradual but significant transition, with the funerary practices of the High Roman Empire replaced by those of the Early Medieval world.
Bibliographie
Alix 2019 Alix S., (Ed.), De la nécropole antique à la ville médiévale : Dijon, 5 rue Danton (Côte-d'Or), diagnostic report, Dijon, Inrap Bourgogne - Franche-Comté, 114 p.
Capdeville 2020 Capdeville C., (Ed.), Mâcon, suivi de réseau rue Gambetta : nouvelles découvertes sur la nécropole « des Cordiers », excavation report, Dijon, Inrap Bourgogne - Franche-Comté, 238 p.
Devevey 2005 Devevey F., (Ed.), Chalon-sur-Saône (71), 32-36 rue de Rochefort, excavation report, Dijon, Inrap Grand Est sud, 265 p.
Fossurier forthcoming Fossurier C., (Ed.), Une nécropole péri-urbaine de la cité d’Augustodunum datant de l’Antiquité tardive, le site de Saint-Pierre-l’Estrier (Saône-et-Loire, Autun), Dijon, Inrap Bourgogne - Franche-Comté.
Gaillard de Sémainville, Sapin, Maranski 1995 Gaillard de Sémainville H., Sapin C., Maranski D. Les découvertes de Beaune (Côte-d’Or) : Burgondes en Bourgogne ?, in Les Burgondes - Apports de l’Archéologie. Actes du Colloque international sur les Burgondes, Dijon, novembre 1992, Dijon, ARTEHIS Éditions, 248 p., p. 143-165.
Nouvel, Delor-Ahü, Estur, Vevault 2015 Nouvel P., Delor-Ahü A., Estur É., Vevault S., Sens/Agendincum, cité des Sénons in Gallia, 72-1, p. 231-246.
Sapin 1998 Sapin C., (Ed.), Auxerre, Paris, Association pour les Fouilles Archéologiques Nationales, 192 p. (Documents d’évaluation du patrimoine archéologique des villes de France, 16)
Auteurs
Inrap, Dijon, France
CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, EFS, ADES, UMR 7268, Marseille, France
Inrap, Dijon, France
Laboratoire Chrono-environnement, UMR 6249, Besançon, France
Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence Licence OpenEdition Books. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.
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