Tumulus of the Wood of the Young Bramble

Publié 17/10/2018 16:42:08 Modifier 11/07/2019 09:59:08 par 489945901

Isolated, this mound is located in a wood near an old source today dried up.

#History #Tumulus #Hallstatt #Couchey

Period: -5400 to -300 years

Situation

Isolated, this mound is located in a wood near an old source today dried up.

History of excavations

In 1907, P. Renard and Clément Drioton, at the time curator of the Museum of the Commission of Antiquities of the Côte-d'Or, today called Archaeological Museum of Dijon (Vernou, 2005), fully explored the tumulus ( Jourdin, 19083, Henry, 1933, Nicolardot, 1968, Nicolardot, 2003, see inventories page 325) without giving precise information on its architecture. The definition of the different burials is possible only from the boards of furniture.

Structure and current state

The tumulus was built of limestone. Its diameter was 15 m and its height of 1.50 m. It is no longer visible in the landscape, because its materials were recovered between 1919 and 1920 for the rehabilitation of roads (oral information provided by G. Aubry). Today, there remains a circular bead in circular shape preserved on a height of about 0.40 m and a diameter of 16 m. The interior seems to have been cleared to a depth of about 0.30 m compared to the natural terrain.

We find the same type of structure in the forests of Châtillonnais: circular bead composed of earth and stones, surrounding a non-carbonized flat area. Bruno Chaume asserts that this is what remains of ancient tumulus excavations whose materials have been removed and used for another purpose, such as backfilling the roads.

Burials 1 and 2

At the center of the mound, 1.80 m deep, in a crevice of the rock in place measuring 1.50 m by 1 m, rested two skeletons deposited head to tail in lateral decubitus, legs bent. Orientation is not indicated.
The deceased, buried in a gangue of clay, were covered by stone slabs.

One of the skulls, subdolichocephalic, had an oval perforation of 27 mm by 39 mm in the left temporoparietal area. The thinned edges of the orifice indicate perfect healing and prove that the patient has survived the procedure for a long time.

furniture

The archaeological material collected consists only of a flint scraper (Nicolardot, 1968, pl.6, n ° 10) and some fragments of shapeless ceramics that crumbled as soon as they came to light. One can cautiously advance the hypothesis of a Neolithic burial.
The two adventitious burials (Graves 3 and 4) were found in the tumoral mass, above the double central burial, without much more being said.

Burial 3

Unpublished, mentioned in the manuscript of E. Bertrand by his furniture.

furniture

- A massive bronze smooth torque, decorated with a groove on the rim (Nicolardot, 1968, pl 35, n ° 1). Hallstatt final? Place of deposit: Archaeological Museum of Dijon.
G. Wamser has described, in a study devoted to the culture of Hallstatt in the east of France, the furniture of the tumulus of the "Bois de la Jeune Ronce".
The author mentions: " ... massive torque with two bead-like sizes on the outer side ... " (Wamser, 1975: 122). His description does not correspond to that provided by E. Bertrand and it is probably a confusion. The adornment reported by G. Wamser was probably collected in a second tumulus excavated by P. Renard (see below, tumulus of Bois de Taviard).
- Two hollow bronze closed leg rings decorated with vertical streaks in small groups of three (Wamser, 1975, pl 24, n ° 8). Hallstatt final. Place of deposit: Archaeological Museum of Dijon (the second finery was not found at the Museum).
- Two bracelets (Fig. 5) closed in solid bronze, of circular section, worn on the lateral edges; decorations of irregular vertical thin streaks on the outer edges of the body. Diam. ext. : 68 mm; diam. int. : 55 mm; above. : 6 mm. Middle-final Hallstatt. Place of deposit: Archaeological Museum of Dijon 4.

Fig. 5.
Bronze bracelets from the tumulus of the Bois de la Jeune Ronce (former Drioton collection)
(Invitation No. 517, drawing J.-R. Bourgeois, Archaeological Museum of Dijon).

Burial 4

furniture

- A ring in smooth bronze (Nicolardot, 1968, pl 36 n ° 6). Hallstatt final?
- A closed bracelet in solid bronze, decorated with fine horizontal striations on the external body (Nicolardot, 1968, pl 36 # 1). Hallstatt final?
- An open bracelet in solid bronze finished at the ends with two small stamps (Nicolardot, 1968, plate 36, n ° 3). The fouilThe tombs of the Clair Bois tumulus at Bressey-sur-Tille (Ratel, 1977) have delivered five bracelets of this type from well-dated burials from the early La Tène ancienne (Chaume, 1999, Fig. 9-11). Place of deposit of furniture: Archaeological Museum of Dijon (former collection Drioton?).

As we have said, we have little information about excavations. This makes the exploitation of the data available today very difficult. The two central burials without typical furniture could be Neolithic and the two adventitious burials seem to go back to the final Hallstatt or to the old La Tène. Are these graves deposited in the enlargement (posterior?) Of a primitive mound or added in it?

Reference

Jean-Pierre Devaux, " The protohistoric environment of Mount Africa: unpublished data on tumulus excavations carried out in the late nineteenth century. and in the early 20th century. in Couchey (Côte-d'Or) », Archeological Review of the East, Volume 56 | 2007, posted on February 20, 2009, accessed on November 16, 2015.

Author

Link to the original electronic documents:

https://rae.revues.org/5236

Location +/- 4 meters.