Approche archéologique des réouvertures de sépultures mérovingiennes dans le nord de la France (VIe-VIIIe siècle)

Abstract

Cette étude explore les pratiques de réouverture de sépultures dans la moitié nord de la France au haut Moyen Âge (VIe-VIIIe siècles). En s’appuyant sur les données archéologiques, et une analyse archéothanatologique des structures funéraires, il propose une nouvelle lecture d’actes longtemps identifiés comme transgressifs, et commis à l’encontre du repos des morts.

Disturbance of early medieval graves in south-western Gaul:

“…In France, recent research on the early Middle Ages (Crubézy and Raynaud 1988;Blaizot 1997;Farago-Szekeres 1997;Gleize 2006;Noterman 2016b) has demonstrated the importance of studying the bones found in a secondary position in individual graves. Such analyses, which are still too uncommon, must precede any interpretations of these practices and any comparisons with textual sources.…”

“…6.1: Sarcophagus of the necropolis of Usseau (Deux-Sèvres, France) presenting bone displacements (arrows) due to fractures (dashed lines) in a floor under the last deposited individual (white bones). 1962, 262-267;Roth 1977;Thiedmann and Schliefring 1992;Effros 2002;Kümmel 2009;Van Haperen 2010;Aspöck 2011;Dierkens 2011;Klevnäs 2013;Chenal and Barrand Emam 2014;Noterman 2016a;2016b;see Zintl, this volume). Bone disturbances due to so-called grave robbery can take many forms, depending for example on whether there was still an empty space from a funerary container around the body when it was reopened (e.g.…”

“…Many early medieval burials were typically disturbed for removal of objects before the funerary containers were completely filled with sediment, that is to say, the activity took place within a generation or so after burial, which typically led to little bone damage, and often left bone spread across the base of the former funerary container (e.g. Aspöck 2011;Zintl 2012;Klevnäs 2013;Noterman 2016b). Often the disturbance is limited to a certain area of the grave, while skeletal remains are still in situ in other areas.…”