Inhumations, dépôts d’animaux et perles en cuivre du IV e millénaire sur le site Néolithique récent de Colmar « Aérodrome » (Haut-Rhin)

Abstract

Excavations carried out by INRAP at the Colmar site in 2008 revealed the presence of 75 circular pits identified as storage pits. No layers of waste suggesting possible nearby domestic activity were found. A total of 19 of the structures contained human remains among which there were 13 primary burial sites and 11 secondary burial sites. The ceramic items collected and a series of radiocarbon dates prove that the site dates back to the Late Neolithic and can be more precisely linked to the Munzingen culture, which covered an area from the south of Upper Alsace to the Wetterau region in Germany. Most of the bodies were in a contracted position, described as “ regular” or “ conventional”, that made it possible to identify a majority of real tombs. One pit shows three layers of inhumation, the lower containing an adult in the regular position and a child in a non-regular position. The two bodies were in close contact. This type of asymmetric burial, relatively common in the recent Upper Rhine Neolithic, seems to represent ritual killings of “ escorts” during the burial of an important person. There is some evidence that post-decompositional manipulations occurred on human corpses as well as on animal carcasses found nearby. Five whole or partial animal burials (suidae and cervidae) and the legs of two roe deer were discovered. They were either isolated or in the same pits as the human bodies, but always separated from these by a layer of sediment. The practice of laying whole animals in circular pits seems to follow the same pattern as that of human burials and it is likely that both practices are a part of the same symbolic system. Studies of the Colmar pits provide several important clues to help understand the numerous aspects linked to the ritual burials in circular pits. In the present state of our knowledge, we favour the hypothesis of ritual offerings, involving animals of various kinds, from whole carcasses to isolated parts. These offerings were never clearly associated with a given individual, but may have been devoted to all the persons buried on the site or to supernatural entities. 56 copper beads making up two “ necklaces” were found near a body lying on its stomach. A number of counterparts to these objects also existed in the Cortaillod culture where they have been found three times in structured deposits. Laboratory research carried out on eight of the Colmar beads shows that they are made of arsenical copper known as Mondsee copper. This copper, which probably comes from the north-eastern Alps, played a major part in the expansion of early prehistoric metallurgy. Given the locations of the discoveries and the origin of the raw material, one can assume that the cylindrical beads characteristic of the 4th millennium were produced in the Cortaillod area from copper bars imported via the Pfyn and/ or the Mondsee cultures. They were perhaps a basis of exchange rather than ornaments. The Colmar site may have been a small necropolis, but also an area devoted to ritual practices involving animal and perhaps even human offerings. The latter hypothesis is suggested by the association – very unlikely in a strictly funerary setting – of bodies in non-regular positions and the presence of prestige items. Individuals buried in a regular position invariably lack grave goods and no prestige items are found in conventional burials.