An unusual funerary arrangement from Late Antiquity in the chapel of Saint-Jean-de-Todon (Laudun-l’Ardoise, Gard, France)—abridged version

Abstract

From 2002 to 2012 an excavation was carried out around the “Saint-Jean-de-Rousigue” chapel in Laudun-l’Ardoise, Gard. According to archival sources, it was the priory church of Saint-Jean-de-Todon. It is located on part of a vast limestone plateau overlooking the Rhône valley, a site that also includes a protohistoric and Roman settlement known as “Camp de César”. A building, a grave and an unusual secondary deposit, dated to Late Antiquity, were discovered to the south and north of the chapel. This archaeological structure contains an arrangement of both human and animal remains that has no equivalent in the regional archaeological literature. Four radiocarbon analyses have made it possible to date the establishment of this deposit and the tomb to around the 3rd and 5th centuries AD. Moreover, this unusual deposit is located near a monumental tomb, contemporary to it, containing an adult subject and two juvenile subjects. This article presents the main characteristics of this atypical funerary zone and the first elements of interpretation.