Les sépultures tardo-antiques de la fouille du tramway à Reims (Marne)

Reims, capitale de la province de Gaule Belgique, est délimitée par un large fossé aux abords duquel, des découvertes anciennes mentionnent plusieurs nécropoles. Ces nécropoles sont fréquentées même lorsque les contours de la ville se rétractent derrière une enceinte plus réduite à la fin du iiie – début du ive s. de n. è. Parallèlement, la découverte d’une soixantaine de tombes dispersées entre ces deux enceintes, dans des contextes du Bas-Empire où le démantèlement et la récupération de matériaux sont intenses questionne l’apparition de cette pratique marginale. Est-elle en lien avec le statut des défunts, des travailleurs venus participer à l’édification de l’enceinte tardo-antique ?Afin de nourrir notre problématique, les résultats purement anthropologiques ont été croisés avec ceux des analyses biomoléculaires (isotopiques et génomiques). L’approche isotopique a révélé globalement des différences de comportements alimentaires entre les deux groupes funéraires, avec une diversité alimentaire plus importante pour les défunts inhumés en tombes dispersées, qui pourrait être liée à leur origine géographique attestée par l’analyse génétique. L’origine autochtone de certains sujets et l’ancienneté de cette pratique funéraire originale mise en évidence par une modélisation chronologique démontrent que l’origine exogène des sujets ne serait peut-être pas le seul facteur explicatif.

Section: Abridged Versionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionunclassified

Regards croisés sur une pratique funéraire marginale à Reims aux iiie-ive s. de n. è. : études archéo-anthropologique, isotopique et paléogénomique

Cavé,

Herrscher,

Mathelart

et al. 2023

“…This is the case at Reims, for example, where due to the construction of the smaller urban wall, at the end of the 3rd century, part of the formerly built space was occasionally occupied by graves in the 4th century. At least 55 burials have been documented, mostly distinguished from graves in community necropolises of the city by their irregular orientation, di昀昀erent funerary architecture, and their lack of grave goods (Sindonino et al 2016).…”

Section: A Similar But Slightly Di昀昀erent Phenomenon Occurs In Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, burial subject 686 is reported to have had a fracture of the distal end of the radius known as "Pouteau-Colles", caused by a fall on the palmar face of his right hand in dorsi-昀氀exion. One individual had been decapitated (Sindonino et al 2016).…”

Section: A Similar But Slightly Di昀昀erent Phenomenon Occurs In Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Roman burials in urban contexts: old questions and new methods

Arnau

2023

From the 3rd century important changes took place in the funerary topography of Roman cities. Firstly, suburban areas previously used for residential or industrial activities outside city walls were used for funerary purposes. Later, beginning in the 4th century, but most commonly in subsequent centuries, dispersed burials start to appear in the intramural space of cities.Both of these two phenomena, widely detected in the Western provinces, are connected to the more general subject of urban transformations in Late Antiquity and therefore have been widely debated since the 1980s. However, no single explanation has been formulated, and the topic is further complicated by the quite vigorous debate on questions such as the 3rd century crisis, the extent of Christianisation and the effects of destructions caused by barbarians and of their settlement in Roman cities.The aim of this paper is to look again at both processes of change, taking into account both old and new archaeological evidence, and new methodologies and interpretations, in order to illuminate their possible causes and interpretations.

Different perspectives on a marginal burial practice in Reims in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD: archeoanthropologic, isotopic and paleogenomic studies—abridged version

Cavé,

Herrscher,

Mathelart

et al. 2023

Reims, as the capital of the province Gallia Belgica, is bounded by a wide moat around which several necropolises are mentioned in ancient finds. These necropolises were frequented even when the city's outlines shrank behind a smaller enclosure at the end of the 3rd or at the beginning of the 4th century CE. At the same time, the discovery of about sixty tombs scattered between these two enclosures, in Late Antiquity contexts where dismantling and recovery of materials were intense, raises questions about the appearance of this marginal practice. Is it related to the status of the deceased, workers who came to participate in the construction of the Late Antiquity enclosure?In order to address our problem, the purely anthropological results were crossed with those of biomolecular analyses (isotopic and genomic). The isotopic approach revealed overall differences in dietary behaviour between the two funerary groups, with a greater dietary diversity for the deceased buried in scattered tombs, which could be linked to their geographical origin as attested by the genetic analysis. The autochthonous origin of certain subjects and the antiquity of this original funerary practice highlighted by chronological modelling demonstrate that the exogenous origin of the subjects might not be the only explanatory factor.