Here’s what you’ll learn from reading this story:
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An archaeological find revealed in eastern France offers a never-before-seen combination of enclosures.
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The site was in use in at least three distinct time periods.
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Linked in part to the burial, the researchers hope that further study will reveal more about the dating and purpose of the site.
As if one ancient circular enclosure were not enough to deceptively evoke an archaeological find in eastern France, three interconnected enclosures have raised the bar.
In what the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) is calling an “unprecedented” discovery in Marliens, France, near Dijon, excavations have revealed a series of occupations on a single site spanning from the Neolithic period to the First Iron Age.
The oldest occupation contains a monument with three enclosures that close between them. The central section offers a circular enclosure with a diameter of 36 feet, the largest of the bunch. To the north a smaller 26-foot long shoe-shaped enclosure connects directly with the main center piece. In the south, a circular design remains open on one side, but still connects to the main circle. The team believes that the three structures are linked together in both positioning and dating and that a layer of gravel found on the two side enclosures suggests that there was also a fence.
“This type of monument seems unprecedented and currently no comparison has been possible,” the research team says in a statement. A bunch of artifacts—including seven flint arrowheads, two archer’s bracers, a flint lighter, and a copper alloy sword—discovered in the pits of the site correspond to cut flint, suggesting an attribution to the Neolithic period, potentially as early as 10,000 BC to 2,200 BC. Radiocarbon analysis is planned to help determine an exact date.
The team found a band with traces of iron oxide bound to the pyrite, indicating that it may have been used to light the fire. These objects often accompany a burial, but the team could not make that conclusion in this case yet.
“An analysis of the composition of the sword’s copper alloy should make it possible to establish its origin and give us information about trade exchanges at that time,” the team writes.
Elsewhere on the site, the team dated five circular enclosures—four open and one closed on a 64,000-square-foot plain—to between 1500 BC and 1300 BC. The remains of a burial and a funeral pyre were found in the pits of the largest enclosure, although the acidity of the soil did not allow the preservation of unburnt bones, so the team could not find a complete burial. Dating based on five copper alloy pins, a necklace with 40 amber beads, and a rare ceramic shard confirms the time.
Nearby there is also a First Iron Age occupation, about 1,300 feet from the plain, this one with burial urns and ornaments. Early Bronze Age wells sit nearby. Analysis of the clay layers at the bottom of the wells can provide information about the natural environment and landscape of the valley during the Bronze Age.
The team believes that with the ongoing analysis of the objects found in the site, together with paleo-environmental studies, they will be able to propose a scenario of the evolution of this territory over time.
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