TWH – Two recent excavations in northern France provide evidence for Gaulish funerary practices from roughly 470 B.C.E. to 199 C.E. The Gauls, an Iron Age tribe, lived in what is now France. They spoke a Celtic language.
One excavation examined an elite grave, and one examined a necropolis. Archaeologists have dated the elite grave to 470 B.C.E. The style of burial goods linked the Lady of Vix to the Princely States period of Hallstatt culture. That Iron Age culture existed in Western and Central Europe. In that phase, larger land areas had come under the control of Hallstatt elites. More land led to more wealth. Those elites tended to display in a very opulent way their status and power.
The Hallstatt culture lasted from roughly 1100 to 450 B.C.E. After 450 B.C.E., the La Tène culture became dominant. In France, the Gauls represented that culture. It lasted till Caesar’s conquest in 50 B.C.E.
The second excavation examined a necropolis in Paris from the second century, during the Gallo-Roman period.
The Lady of Vix
In its July/August 2023 edition, Archaeology magazine reported on the excavation of an elite tomb at Vix. Amateur archaeologists conducted the first excavation in the 1950s. The National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) and the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) conducted the most recent excavation.
The burial mound
A slightly oval burial mound with a diameter of 39.6 meters (130 feet) covered the elite tomb. Archaeologists have dated its construction to about 470 B.C.E. Stones covered it, but people later recycled most of its stones by 99 C.E. The elite tomb had an area of 9.3 meter2 (100 feet2). Mourners had buried the tomb 3.1 meters (10 feet) below ground.
In the tomb, archaeologists found the skeleton of an elite woman on a wagon. Mourners had removed the wheels and propped them up against the tomb’s walls.
The recent excavation examined an area in the northwestern area of the burial mound. That area faced the nearby Hallstatt settlement on Mont Lassois.
Archaeologists theorized that this area facing the settlement was the front of the tomb. A stone façade and a stone ramp led to the mound’s entrance. On one side of the ramp, they found a stone podium.
Near the entrance to the mound, archaeologists found two decapitated statues. One statue had the form of a male warrior. The other had that of a seated woman. Around the second statue’s neck, lay a torque with oval terminals. Based on stylistic similarities, scholars have theorized that this statue represents the Lady of Vix.
The tomb
Archaeologists found the remains of an elite woman. She died between the ages of 30 and 40. Her body lay upon a wagon. The wagon may have led the funeral procession to the tomb. In the tomb, mourners removed the wheels and propped them against the eastern walls of the tomb.
Body adornments
Archaeologists found a golden torc among the Lady’s adornments. A torc is a metal collar that the ancient Gauls wore. At each end, it had globe-shaped terminals. Artisans had decorated each globular end with a lion’s foot and the winged horse, Pegasus. Those terminals have a similarity with those found on the statue by the entrance to the mound. Ornaments of amber, coral, and jet adorned her skeleton.
Burial Goods
Archaeologists found a 1.5 meter (5 foot) tall bronze crater made by Greek artisans. The Greeks used craters to mix wine and water. Each side of the crater had images of warriors in horse-drawn chariots. Its handles had Gorgon’s heads. its lid had the image of a woman. It ranks as the largest metal vessel from Mediterranean cultures ever found.
A Gorgon head on the outside of each of the Vix-krater’s three handles, from the grave of the Celtic Lady of Vix, 510 BC [Photo Credit: Michael Greenhalgh CCA-SA 2.5]
In 2019, archaeologists also found an iron caelum scalptorium, used to scrape the skin. Drinking vessels lined the walls of the tomb. They also found locally made bronze and iron fibulas, a safety pin type of clasp. Artisans decorated those fibulas with gold or coral from the Mediterranean. Excavators found a silver libation bowl. The burial goods showed evidence of trade from the Baltic and the Mediterranean.
Princely States
In “An Unfinished Trend Towards-Urbanization in Celtic Regions North of the Alps,” Patrice Brun, Bruno Chaume, and Christopher Sutcliff described the elites of the Princely States. The authors argued that the elites used conspicuous consumption to display their high status. They estimated the population of the nearby settlement in 500 B.C.E. to be about 5,000. A non-elite graveyard was also present on Mont Lassois. The Princely States of Hallstatt collapsed around the time of the transition to the La Tène culture. Smaller chiefdoms replaced the larger Princely States.
The settlement nearby on Mont Lassois
The Hallstatt settlement on nearby Mount Lassois may have been the seat of power for the Lady of Vix. In that settlement, archaeologists have found remains of a variety of structures, including large structures. They have labeled one large structure “The palace of the Lady of Vix.”
Reconstitution du “palais de Vix” (Musée du pays châtillonnais) [Photo Credit: Claude PIARD CCA-SA 4.0]
In “Entre-Etat-et-Chefferie-Simple,” the authors Chaume et al suggested that the transition from Hallstatt to La Tène may have been violent. Some structures on Mont Lassois showed signs of fire damage. At the entrance to the burial mound of the Lady of Vix, people had beheaded the two statues. Around 450 B.C.E., people abandoned the settlement at Mont Lassois. The era of the Princely States of the Hallstatt culture lasted for only about 100 years.
Torc with winged horses found in the tomb of the Lady of Vix [Photo Credit: Xuan Che CCA-SA 2.0]
Speculation about the funeral rites of the Lady of Vix
People may have processed from the settlement on Mont Lassois to the burial mound. The wagon on which the Lady of Vix’s skeleton lay may have brought her body to the tomb. When the procession reached the mound, priests may have conducted funeral rites facing the two statues. The rites would then move into the tomb to leave offerings. These could have been for the deceased’s use in the afterlife. Alternatively, like the swords and other objects found in bogs, lakes, and rivers, they could have been offerings to the gods to aid the deceased on their journey. They could also have been offerings to aid her people. Finally, people would have marched out of the tomb and seal the burial mound. They would then probably have a type of feast or banquet.
At the end of the local Hallstatt culture, people beheaded the two statues. One of the striking features of the Gauls was a cult of the head. Gaulish warriors used to hang on their horses the heads of those they had slain. The beheading could reflect a magical act of absorbing the power of the slain. The next installment will look at the famous necropolis that lies beneath Paris.
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