Les gestuelles funéraires au Second Âge du fer en Picardie

Iron Age Mortuary Practices in Britain: An Assessment of Current Trends and their Characteristics within Contemporary North-western European Traditions

“…Indeed, regional variation is an important characteristic of mortuary data during this period. It includes the restricted distribution of burials like the Deal group (found only in eastern Kent), or the observation that the Oise valley in the Hauts-de-France represented a cultural border, with the cremation utilising groups to the west and north having greater affinity to Atlantic communities, and the inhumation traditions to the east and south being orientated to Alpine mortuary traditions (Pinard et al 2010, 38). Other differences of note include the way the inhumed dead were clothed.…”

“…In the Hauts-de-France, as in some parts of Britain and Normandy, inhumations are known throughout this period and are most prevalent in the 5th and 4th centuries bc , particularly in Picardy where they represent the standard formal rite (Pinard et al 2010, 37). Like contemporary Norman cemeteries, some burials display characteristics traditionally thought of as being insular: flexed and contracted body positions with a preference for northward orientation.…”

“…At start of the La Tène period, almost all Hauts-de-France inhumation burials from cemeteries were positioned supine and extended (Pinard et al 2010, 42). In terms of other contexts, Pinard et al (2009, 109) recorded only two pit burials from the 5th and 4th centuries bc , with three individuals between them.…”

“…In contrast to the majority of inhumations from contemporary cemeteries, pit inhumations were typically positioned in flexed or contracted positions, as in Britain. Between La Tène A1 and B2 the position of dress fittings in inhumation graves suggests there was a shift from interring inhumations in shrouds to dressing them in funerary garb; the opposite of contemporary Normandy though commonplace in the Arras culture (Pinard et al 2010, 42). The prevalence of inhumation declined rapidly between the mid-4th and mid-3rd centuries bc , with cremation burials increasingly recorded, especially for the west of Picardy.…”

“…A further difference is the arrangement of feasting equipment in Picardy, whereby objects like firedogs and cauldrons are placed centrally in the grave (eg, Cizancourt grave 3; Marcelcave Le Chemin d’Ignaucourt grave 9). Some authors have referred to this as a ‘functional arrangement’, implying such graves were arranged to emulate a feast (Pinard et al 2010, 47; Sueur 2018, 297). Excluding Baldock, this arrangement is not observed in Welwyn graves.…”