At least five Gallic skeletons buried in a seated position have been discovered during excavations of the former garden of the Cordeliers Convent in Paris, France, the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) revealed two weeks ago.
Archaeologists have previously unearthed 13 Gauls interred at the site in the same manner in 2024, estimating them to have been between the ages of 40 and 60.
They were all buried in circular pits, approximately one meter in diameter and regularly spaced, and form a straight 25 meters long line that runs north to south.
All 18 have also been dated to around the second Iron Age.
Five or six of them bear evidence of unhealed cuts on their humerus’s, believed to be indicative of an “intentional killing,” and one is marked by two “blows to the skull from a sharp object,” most likely a sword.
The deceased were laid to rest seated in the bottom of the pit with their backs against the eastern wall, facing east, with their arms resting on their torsos and hands placed near their pelvis or femur.
Their legs were “deeply flexed, often asymmetrically,” according to INRAP, which added that aside from a black stone armband dated to between 300 and 200 BCE, no additional grave goods were found with the skeletons.
Burials such as these are unique. Only about 50 “seated skeletons” have been found across a dozen archaeological sites in Europe: Nine sites in France, across the northern half of what used to be Gaul, and three in Switzerland.
Gallo-Roman infant’s necroplis also revealed
A 1st century CE Gallo-Roman necropolis housing the remains of about 22 infants, all who died before their first birthday, was also found at the Cordeliers Convent site.
Unlike the adult burials found there, the infants were interred laying on their backs or sides. No adult remains were found in the area, suggesting that it had been dedicated specifically to the burial of young children.
INRAP noted that some of the infants had been buried alongside coins or ceramics.
The remains were discovered within stone coffins, and nails unearthed at the site indicated that wooden coffins had also been used and since rotted away or removed. Unfortunately, several of the tombs had unknowingly been destroyed during modern agricultural work.