05-2024, tome 121, 2, p.187-210 - Schmitt A., Gasnier M., Bovagne M., Negroni S., Reggio A., Van Wiligen S. (2024) – Une sépulture du Néolithique moyen liée à la pratique de la crémation sur le site de Piechegu (Bellegarde, Gard)

Une sépulture du Néolithique moyen liée à la pratique de la crémation sur le site de Piechegu (Bellegarde, Gard)

Aurore Schmitt, Marion Gasnier, Marilyne Bovagne, Sabine Negroni, Adrien Reggio, Samuel van Willigen et la collaboration de Blandine Lecomte-Schmitt

Résumé : Le site de Piechegu (Bellegarde, Gard) fouillé par l'Inrap en 2016, a livré, entre autres, 140 structures s'échelonnant entre le VIe et le IVe millénaire avant notre ère. Parmi les vestiges funéraires néolithiques, qui témoignent surtout de la pratique de l'inhumation, une sépulture secondaire à crémation a été découverte ainsi qu'une trentaine de fosses datées du Néolithique moyen 2. La structure 3614, datée entre 4250 et 4000 avant notre ère, contenait des restes humains calcinés accompagnés d'un mobilier constitué de onze récipients en céramique, neuf armatures, deux lames de hache et un objet en bois. Si les différents types d'objets représentés ne se démarquent pas de ce qui est connu par ailleurs dans la région, leur nombre est plus surprenant et fait de FS3614 une des plus riches sépultures du Néolithique moyen du Midi de la France, tous types de traitement des défunts confondus. De plus, la disposition des objets dans la sépulture n'est pas aléatoire et témoigne d'une véritable mise en scène impliquant des tris sur le bûcher.

La pratique de la crémation est attestée dans le Néolithique moyen méditerranéen depuis les découvertes du Vallon de Gaude à Manosque et du Camp del Ginebre à Caramany dans les années 1990. Avec une trentaine d'occurrences, ce type de traitement des corps peut être considéré actuellement comme l'une des composantes du système funéraire du Néolithique moyen méditerranéen. Cela nous conduit à poser la question du statut des défunts qui ont bénéficié de ce traitement à une période où peu de morts bénéficient d'un enfouissement.

Mots-clés : crémation, Néolithique moyen, midi de la France, céramique, lithique, objet en bois, restes osseux brûlés.

Abstract: The Piechegu site (Bellegarde, Gard, fig. 1) excavated by Inrap in 2016 yielded a structure (3614) located in a group of fifteen features dating from the late 5th millennium (fig. 3) and attesting the practice of cremation. The circular pit had a diameter of one meter, a bowl-shaped profile and a preserved depth of 30 cm (fig. 4). An oval, wooden object was placed on the bottom of the pit (fig. 4, 12 and 13), with a laddle in a bowl with an internally thickened, everted rim (fig. 4, 5 nos. 3 and 6, fig. 13). The remains of the pyre containing some of the deceased's bones, as well as arrowheads and a few ceramic fragments, were then thrown into the pit, forming a layer of fifteen centimeters. A level of sediment a few centimeters, devoid of archaeological material, seems to have sealed off this first deposit. Most of the archaeological material (arrowheads, axe blades and ceramics) was discovered on top of this layer (fig. 4 and 14). The pit was then backfilled by about ten centimeters of carbonaceous sediment.

Only one adult-sized represented by 487 g of mostly calcinated white bones, was identified. The burnt remains of the individual were not entirely removed from the crematory structure. The ceramics consist of a minimum of eleven vessels : two vases with S-shaped profile (fig. 5, nos. 1 and 2), two vases with spherical or elliptical bodies (fig. 7, nos. 2 and 3), two plates with decorated rims (fig. 6, nos. 1 and 2), the lower part of a vase support with a decorated base (fig. 7, no. 1), a vase with a low inflection, a straight, closed upper part and a perforated cordon (fig. 5, no. 5), a bowl with an internally thickened, everted rim (fig. 5, no. 3) and, finally, fragments of two ladles (fig. 5, nos. 4 and 5). At least some of the ceramics show evidences of high-temperature exposure: flaking surfaces and eroded breaks. The series as a whole is characterized by high quality production, showing the craftsmanship of fine and robust ware. Nine sharp flint arrowheads and two axe blades made of tenacious rock (fig. 11) were uncovered in the fill of structure 3614. The geometric bitroncatures have been burnt intensely, causing very severe weathering. The small wooden vessel is made of deciduous oak. Such vessels are relatively rare for the Neolithic period, due to the special conditions required for their preservation.

The radiocarbon date of a charcoal (Poz-90710 5310 ± 40 BP) places the feature 3614 to the last third of the 5th millennium BC. The ceramic corpus is comparable to the range of forms and decorations attested in several Middle Neolithic Mediterranean assemblages. They correspond to a cultural group described by different authors as Early Chassean (see, for example, Georjon and Léa, 2013) or Chassey-type Middle Neolithic (van Willigen et al., 2020).

Considered an anecdotal funerary practice since the 1990s, after the discovery of the Caramany and Vallon de Gaude sites, cremation is now attested by 33 structures on at least ten sites. For the most part, these are secondary cremation deposits reserved to adult-sized individuals. These deposits are not associated with burials and, like burials, are either isolated (as at Piechegu) or form groups of around ten structures. Bones are highly fragmented and are partially collected at the pyree before being transferred and deposited in a receptacle (pit or, in one case, ossuary vessel). In most cases, secondary cremation deposits are accompanied by objects (sherds, arrowhead, axe blades, fragments of tools made in animal bones) that went through high temperatures. The practice of cremation belongs therefore to the funerary system of southern France. Structure 3614 shares several caracteristics with other cremations: the combination of arrowhead and axe blades, the partial removal of the burnt human remains and the deposition of burnt objects. However, the structure 3614 has several peculiarities. The deposition of certain objects is not random, and clearly shows that the burnt objects were sorted and placed in the grave in a precise order. Moreover, with at least eleven ceramic vessels, one wooden vessel, nine arrowhead and two axe blades, this feature at Piechegu is one of the richest Middle Neolithic burials in the region.

Keywords: cremation, Middle Neolithic, South of France, ceramic, lithic, wooden object, burned human remains.