L’exposition d’armes et de têtes coupées au Cailar. Pratiques rituelles des Celtes du Midi au iiie siècle avant notre ère

Le site et le dépôt Les prospections et la fouille programmée conduites depuis 2000 au Cailar (Gard) ont révélé l’existence d’un important comptoir fortifié fondé au vie siècle avant notre ère. Les données permettent de restituer un site d’une surface maximale de 1,5 à 2 ha dont un vingtième environ a été fouillé. Un premier sondage a révélé la présence de maisons présentant des structures en dur, des foyers et des banquettes d’argile, entre le ve et le ive siècle avant notre ère. Le faciès m..

Le dépôt d’armes et de têtes coupées de Le Cailar (Gard)

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Origin and mobility of Iron Age Gaulish groups in present-day France revealed through archaeogenomics

The Iron Age period occupies an important place in French history, as the Gauls are regularly presented as the direct ancestors of the extant French population. We documented here the genomic diversity of Iron Age communities originating from six French regions. The 49 acquired genomes permitted us to highlight an absence of discontinuity between Bronze Age and Iron Age groups in France, lending support to a cultural transition linked to progressive local economic changes rather than to a massive influx of allochthone groups. Genomic analyses revealed strong genetic homogeneity among the regional groups associated with distinct archaeological cultures. This genomic homogenisation appears to be linked to individuals’ mobility between regions as well as gene flow with neighbouring groups from England and Spain. Thus, the results globally support a common genomic legacy for the Iron Age population of modern-day France that could be linked to recurrent gene flow between culturally differentiated communities

Celtic severed head practice in southern France : The exemple of the Cailar’s settlement (Gard, France) during the IIIrd century BCE. Death archaeology approachand IT processing

En Gaule méridionale la pratique des têtes coupées, décrite par la littérature antique, est attestée par les vestiges lapidaires et les restes humains mis au jour depuis plus d’un siècle. Des données inédites sur cette coutume ont été acquises suite à la découverte au Cailar (Gard, France), à partir de 2003, d’un ensemble de crânes humains fragmentés, d’armement manipulé et de plusieurs dizaines de monnaies, dispersés dans les phases de remblaiement d’une place publique entre la fin du IVe et la fin du IIIe s av. n. è. Cette dernière appartient à une agglomération fortifiée fondée dès le VIe s. av. n. è. Les fragments de crânes trouvés sur ce site constituent le sujet de cette étude. Ces os forment un corpus assez différent des restes généralement associés aux têtes coupées : ils sont nombreux, très fragmentés et largement mélangés et dispersés dans les couches. Pour comprendre les évènements qui ont conduit à la création d’un tel assemblage, il a été nécessaire de mettre en place des outils adaptés à leur étude. Après une remise en contexte archéologique régionale et locale, ce travail se propose de présenter les méthodes de l’archéothanatologie adaptées à l’étude de ce type d’ossements (quantification, modification osseuses). Dans un deuxième temps, sont détaillés l’outil d’enregistrement créé pour optimiser l’étude (base de données/géodatabase, SIG), et les méthodes d’analyses spatiales retenues pour étudier non seulement les traces et les fractures des pièces osseuses, mais aussi leur répartition sur le terrain. Les résultats obtenus sont multiples : données quantitatives et taphonomiques précises sur l’assemblage, proposition d’une méthode inédite pour l’analyse de la découpe et de la fragmentation sur des crânes humains fragmentés, analyse poussée de la répartition spatiale dans les trois dimensions. Tous ces éléments permettent de proposer des hypothèses solides quant à la chaîne opératoire qui concerne les têtes coupées : mode de récupération, traitement, rejet, mise en place du dépôt. Ce travail permet également de suggérer des pistes à approfondir ou à abandonner dans les méthodes usuelles d’analyses des grands ensembles fragmentés et dispersés.Once only known from Classical accounts, the practice of collecting and curating human heads by certain Iron Age groups in southern France has, for more than a century now, been evinced by materials including stone carvings and human remains. In particular, new evidence has been brought to light at the site of Le Cailar (Gard), a fortified site occupied from the end of the 6th century BCE. Specially, excavations carried out since 2003 have revealed an extensive deposit accumulated from the end of the 4th until the end of the 3rd century BCE, comprising fragmented human crania, purposefully deformed armaments, and many dozens of coins scattered across a public plaza, beneath a thick layer of rubble. The human cranial fragments discovered on this plaza are the subject of this study. These bones form a corpus quite different from the remains generally associated with severed heads: they are numerous, very fragmented, and largely mixed and dispersed in the levels. In order to understand the events that led to the creation of the assemblage, it has been necessary to adapt tools to this study. After putting the site into its local and regional context, this work proposes to present bioarchaeological methods adapted to the study of these types of bone (especially, quantification and modification of the bone). In a second time, the recording tool created to optimize the study is presented (database / geodatabase, GIS), then the spatial analysis methods used to study, not only the traces and the fractures of the parts bones, but also their distribution on the field. There are a lot of results: precise quantitative and taphonomic data about the assemblage, proposition of new method to study cut marks and fracturing, a hitherto unparalleled understanding of the process of how crania were distributed across the site (this last measured in three dimensions). All these elements permit to propose solid hypotheses regarding the process by which these heads were produced: the means of recuperation, treatment, disposal, and deposition. This work also suggests which avenues of research will or won't be useful to pursue in future projects of a similar nature

Analyses of bone modifications on human remains: a GIS approach

International audienceThe analysis of fragmentation and cut marks on human remains usually relies on extensive textual descriptions, sketches on bone diagrams and recording in data tables, and most often on a combination of these methods, which each have their disadvantages. Some zooarchaeologists have found ways of facilitating these charts analyses, and a few authors have occasionally adapted them to human bones: using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, where ‘base maps’ are sketches of skeletons instead of geographical areas. We applied this approach to a set of Gallic severed heads coming from Le Cailar (Gard, France) on recent GIS software to investigate the cutting and fracturing. Since it is an ongoing study, we rnainly discuss our method and questions raised by the creation of MNE (minimum number of elements) and density maps. The preliminary results indicate a great accuracy of MNE estimating, and a similarity between the different estimation methods of cut marks or fractures densities

Analyses of bone modifications on human remains: a GIS approach

International audienceThe analysis of fragmentation and cut marks on human remains usually relies on extensive textual descriptions, sketches on bone diagrams and recording in data tables, and most often on a combination of these methods, which each have their disadvantages. Some zooarchaeologists have found ways of facilitating these charts analyses, and a few authors have occasionally adapted them to human bones: using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, where ‘base maps’ are sketches of skeletons instead of geographical areas. We applied this approach to a set of Gallic severed heads coming from Le Cailar (Gard, France) on recent GIS software to investigate the cutting and fracturing. Since it is an ongoing study, we rnainly discuss our method and questions raised by the creation of MNE (minimum number of elements) and density maps. The preliminary results indicate a great accuracy of MNE estimating, and a similarity between the different estimation methods of cut marks or fractures densities

L’exposition d’armes et de têtes coupées au Cailar. Pratiques rituelles des Celtes du Midi au IIIe siècle avant notre ère

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Le dépôt du Cailar (Gard)

Catalogue de l'exposition du 4 mai au 31 décembre 2013 au Musée archéologique de NîmesInternational audienc

L’exposition d’armes et de têtes coupées au Cailar. Pratiques rituelles des Celtes du Midi au IIIe siècle avant notre ère

International audienc

Le dépôt du Cailar (Gard)

Catalogue de l'exposition du 4 mai au 31 décembre 2013 au Musée archéologique de NîmesInternational audienc