Parcellaire et nécropoles de l'Âge du Bronze ancien à Bernières-sur-Mer (Calvados)

Abstract

An archaeological diagnosis followed by a rapid assessment on the site of a future property development at Bernières-sur-Mer allowed the observation, unfortunately incomplete, of a network of ditches dividing plots of land, and of several funerary structures (enclosures and tombs) dating from the end of the 3rd millennium ВС (very beginning of the Bronze Age). These enclosures and burials probably belong to a funerary complex already partially discovered some 20 years ago about 100 metres away: the two "famous" Bernières tombs dated to the late 3rd or early 2nd millennium and described by G. Verron in 1976. One of the tombs discovered this year (tomb 102, enclosure 101) has been dated to between 2195 and 1918 ВС, which tends to indicate that the two sites form an almost contemporary complex. The remains discovered at Bernières-sur-Mer would thus constitute a single exceptional site, now for the most part destroyed (this site has not been excavated and the plots of land for development have been discharged from all archaeological constraints), covering over six hectares (approximately 15 acres) and related to a land use system dating back to the 3rd millennium.

Parcellaires de l’âge du Bronze ancien à Saint-Aubin-d’Arquenay « Éco-quartier des Vignettes » (Calvados)

“…La phase 2-b de Saint-Aubin-d'Arquenay pourrait témoigner pour une part d'un système agraire par accrétion de parcelles, comparable aux parcellaires anglais (irregular enclosure), un peu diférent des systèmes rectilignes que l'on observe d'ordinaire dans la région (Tatihou, Cairon, Bernières-sur-Mer : Marcigny et Ghesquière, 2003a). La phase 2-c, qui semble abandonner le système accrétionné (2-b) pourrait correspondre à un des éléments des grands linéaments de l'âge du Bronze qui, comme à Saint-Vigor-d'Ymonville (Clément-Sauleau et al, 2002), s'apparentant aux systèmes des ranch boundaries, attribués à la gestion du bétail.…”

“…Il s'agirait selon toute probabilité de systèmes parcellaires délimités et creusés au fur et à mesure de l'extension du/des terroirs d'exploitation, nécessités par une gestion de l'eau rigoureuse dans un contexte de nappes subaleurantes. Au niveau régional, les exemples clairement mis en évidence sont plutôt de type à fossés rectilignes sécants, comme à Tatihou, Cairon ou Bernières-sur-Mer (Marcigny et Ghesquière, 2003a ;Giazzon en préparation ;Marcigny et Ghesquière, 2008). Quelques exemples mal datés (Saint-Contest « L'Ormelet » : Ghesquière, DFS 2001, ig.…”

The Bell Beaker Phenomenon in Europe

“…Further north, the Saône-Rhône axis plays a structuring role as a north-south corridor, contrasting with the discontinuous distribution of Atlantic France, with empty areas such as the Landes, seemingly an ecological wasteland for much of later prehistory. Few but significant Bell Beaker finds are known in Normandy (e.g., Marcigny et al 2003Marcigny et al , 2004 and along the Seine River, but in lesser quantity in northern France and in the Paris basin, where they coincide with sites with other types of material assemblages . Ecology is arguably the biggest factor in shaping settlement pattern in the Netherlands, which was dominated by large areas of peatland unsuitable for human settlement (Fokkens et al 2016).…”

Bell Beaker Burial Customs in North-western France

“…The first examples discovered in Normandy were a pair of closely spaced graves at La Rive (Bernières-sur-Mer, Calvados) which were partially destroyed by a bulldozer (Verron 1976;Marcigny & Ghesquière 2003;Noël 2011). The first, a pit dug into the bedrock, contained an undecorated Beaker, a copper-alloy tanged dagger, and the contracted remains of an adult male (c. 50 years old) placed on his left side.…”

“…This 'Dutch-style' ring-ditch tradition is rare in north-western France and does not appear to continue directly into the later stage of the Bell Beaker complex in the region. As such, there appears to be a time-gap between these 'Dutch-style' circular monuments and larger EBA ring-ditches (Marcigny & Ghesquière 2003) and, in essence, these may represent two distinct and unrelated traditions.…”