Excavations carried out in the south of the Allier department have led to the discovery of a fortified settlement dating from the Bronze Age and hoarded artefacts, partly lifting the veil on a mysterious practice.
For the first time in France, archaeologists were able to analyze the arrangement of metal objects.
There are many fortified settlements dating from the end of the Bronze Age (2200 - 800 BC) in the Massif Central. Indeed, the region experienced intense occupation at the end of the period, motivated by conditions conducive to the economic development of the populations:fertile valleys associated with grazing landscapes for livestock farming, proximity to one of the main roads trade linking the Paris basin to the Mediterranean as well as the presence of rare metalliferous resources, such as tin, which, combined with copper, allows the production of bronze objects. Nevertheless, the discovery of a fortified habitat dating from the end of the Bronze Age in the Allier could breathe new life into the study of prehistoric societies. The excavations behind this discovery were organized as part of the Collective Research Project "Stutterers and Jenzat from Protohistory to Antiquity", created in 2019, approved by the Ministry of Culture, directed by Pierre-Yves Milcent and David Lallemand and led by the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès and the TRACES-UMR 5608 Laboratory.
"The Bronze Age settlement with the largest number of metal objects in France"
The social structures of the end of the Bronze Age were comparable to those of the succeeding Iron Age:the agro-pastoral economy presented a certain level of development, the habitats were sometimes organized in agglomerations, the production of metallurgy was intensive and Europe crossed by vast networks of contacts and exchanges. But while Bronze Age settlements have long been reduced to scattered farmhouses and small hilltop sites and villages, numerous fortifications have been unearthed, and the importance of these buildings defense in the social organization at the end of the Bronze Age is now revised upwards, their military role now being better recognized.
There are many fortified settlements dating from the end of the Bronze Age (2200 - 800 BC) in the Massif Central. Indeed, the region experienced intense occupation at the end of the period, motivated by conditions conducive to the economic development of the populations:fertile valleys associated with grazing landscapes for livestock farming, proximity to one of the main roads trade linking the Paris basin to the Mediterranean as well as the presence of rare metalliferous resources, such as tin, which, combined with copper, allows the production of bronze objects. Nevertheless, the discovery of a fortified habitat dating from the end of the Bronze Age in the Allier could breathe new life into the study of prehistoric societies. The excavations behind this discovery were organized as part of the Collective Research Project "Stutterers and Jenzat from Protohistory to Antiquity", created in 2019, approved by the Ministry of Culture, directed by Pierre-Yves Milcent and David Lallemand and led by the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès and the TRACES-UMR 5608 Laboratory.
"The Bronze Age settlement with the largest number of metal objects in France"
The social structures of the end of the Bronze Age were comparable to those of the succeeding Iron Age:the agro-pastoral economy presented a certain level of development, the habitats were sometimes organized in agglomerations, the production of metallurgy was intensive and Europe crossed by vast networks of contacts and exchanges. But while Bronze Age settlements have long been reduced to scattered farmhouses and small hilltop sites and villages, numerous fortifications have been unearthed, and the importance of these buildings defense in the social organization at the end of the Bronze Age is now revised upwards, their military role now being better recognized.
The fortified habitat unearthed by excavations carried out in the south of the Allier department, near the town of Gannat, is of a rare scale. In addition, three vases 30 cm in diameter and a pit containing metal objects were found within it. "It is now the Bronze Age habitat that yields the largest number of metal objects in France, and it is also one of the richest in Europe for the period "explain the researchers in a press release.
While these artefacts are not particularly atypical objects - they are mostly weapons, jewelry and accessories, equine equipment -, their quantity and level of conservation are striking. "Finding hundreds of intact objects, in itself, is extraordinary" confides Pierre-Yves Milcent, co-director of the study, in an interview with Sciences et Avenir. Note that among them, there are still objects from the Baltic, northern Italy or southern England, and thus prove the existence of large-scale commercial exchanges.
The objects would have been gathered as an offering
Most of the known Bronze Age objects having been discovered by chance - by craftsmen or farmers - or through looting, archaeologists have only rarely had the opportunity to study their layout, which can be evocative in cases of voluntary burials. The singularity of the discovery made by the team of researchers led by Pierre-Yves Milcent therefore lies in the opportunity it offers researchers to observe metallic deposits as they were composed almost 3,000 years ago.
A mystery remains to be clarified:why did they bury metallic riches in places that do not seem to be dedicated to the dead or to religious worship? This debate has divided the research community for more than 100 years. For some, the depots of objects had a storage function, of goods intended to be melted down or sold. "It was a theory that was dominant until the late 1970s" , says Pierre-Yves Milcent. It has now lost authority, to the benefit of the competing explanation, which has emerged from the countries of Northern Europe. Excavations in Denmark and Sweden have indeed unearthed deposits at bog level. However, no one would have the idea of placing their stocks in marshy areas:for researchers, it is therefore a question of offerings.
The examination of the various deposits of the Allier revealed that they were part of a very organized practice. Indeed, the researchers noticed a similar arrangement of the objects - the jewels at the base of the vase, the ax blades above - which seems to be the sign of a ritual. And the context of the exhumation reinforces this interpretation:the offering may have taken place at the time of the foundation or the abandonment of the habitat, as practiced by other contemporary cultures around the Mediterranean. “In France, it was long believed that Bronze Age deposits were buried away from necropolises and settlements" , continues Pierre-Yves Milcent.
In addition to legitimizing the ritual interpretation of the practice of depositing at the end of the Bronze Age, the discovery of these objects in their original arrangement and context opens the way to numerous studies, which could in particular make it possible to know the composition and origin of metals. "Decades of research and analysis" predicts Pierre-Yves Milcent.