Funerals During the Second Iron age: A Newly Discovered Sepulchral Ensemble Reveals Practices in Western Switzerland (Pré-Du-Stand, Geneva)

Abstract

During preventive archaeological excavations at the site of Pre-du-Stand in Geneva (Switzerland) in 2015 and 2016, four cremations dating to the middle La Tene period (La Tene C2/200-150 BC) were found. This discovery sheds light on Second Iron Age societies, which remain poorly understood to this day. Analysis based on existing anthropological knowledge and funerary artefacts suggest these structures represent a female grave, two warrior graves, and a deposit of charcoal and burned human bones. On the Swiss Plateau, the beginning of the Second Iron Age (LTA2-LTC2/425-150 BC) is characterised by inhumation necropolises. Cremation, meanwhile, disappears until 150 BC, when it makes a comeback. The recent discoveries made at Pre-du-Stand push back the appearance of cremations to the La Tene C2 period around 200 BC, and bear witness to the presence of two male tombs, a rare occurrence in the funerary context for this period.