What bones! While the basements of the Saint-Denis basilica have just delivered more than two hundred medieval tombs, while archaeological surveys carried out at the foot of Notre-Dame de Paris suggest new discoveries of burials…, RATP work carried out in the Port-Royal district, in the south of the capital, reveal, this time, an unknown part of ancient funerary practices.
Originally, the exhumation of 52 graves discovered by chance during the creation of a new exit for RER B users, at Port-Royal station. The presence of burials in a nearby perimeter had already been noted at the end of the 19th century. “But we were surprised to discover bodies there,” says Camille Colonna, head of the excavations conducted by the Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap).
This area along the cardo maximus which crossed the ancient city at the beginning of the Christian era and located in the extension of the current boulevard Saint-Michel, under the roadway of the avenue de l’Observatoire, housed the largest necropolis of Lutetia. “This new discovery indicates that this ancient cemetery [formerly identified at the corner of boulevard Montparnasse and rue Cassini, editor’s note] extended well beyond and must have been larger than the four hectares that we had estimated until then”, recalls Dominique Garcia, president of Inrap.
Several features have drawn the attention of archaeologists. “The graves are not facing east like in Christian cemeteries. The bodies are those of adults whose age, sex and cause of death have yet to be determined in the laboratory. All were buried and not cremated while at the same time, the Romans nevertheless practiced cremation rituals”, notes Camille Colonna.
The excavation operation was an opportunity to identify a large number of funerary deposits on the plot explored over nearly 200 square meters. A coin from 125 AD, probably placed in the mouth of a dead person to pay the obol to the ferryman of the underworld, Charon, has allowed archaeologists to date the site. And this, although no stele or funerary monument was found on the spot. A few items related to clothing – brooches, jewelry, pins, belts – have been unearthed. As well as the skeleton of a whole pig and another unidentified small animal in an “offering pit”.
Above all, the researchers unearthed numerous ceramics and large glass containers, some of which are in an astonishing state of preservation. “Additional analyzes will allow us to know what they contained,” says Camille Colonna. The anthropologist was especially surprised by the high number of shoes found in some graves. “Two on average but up to five in one of the burials,” she said.
It is the presence of nails which made it possible to establish the presence of these shoes in the funerary vats. The sandy nature of the soil did not in fact allow the organic materials that composed them to be preserved. The exploration of the sepulchral pits continues until April 28. Archaeologists do not rule out discovering new bodies by then.
