Un ensemble funéraire du début du Bronze final à Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône) : les sépultures secondaires à crémation du site du Conservatoire

Abstract

The urban requalification of southern areas of the city of Aix-en-Provence led to an archaeological excavation on a plot where the future academy of music and dance (‘ Conservatoire’) is to be built. It brought to light five secondary cremation graves which can be dated to the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. This discovery illustrates a specific practice not very well-known in Southern France for that period. These small graves each contained only a funerary urn in which were found the remains of a single individual, sometimes accompanied by small fragments of animal bones but without any trace of the funerary pyre. The graves are sealed by a sort of pebble tumulus which rests upon the cover of the funerary urn, made of a small limestone slab in one case and probably of some perishable material in three other cases. These small mounds could also be interpreted as visual marks for the location of the graves. A crushed pot close to one of the graves may also be considered as a funerary deposit. Anthropological studies show that the bones were partially collected from the primary cremation structure. However, great variability can be observed between the different tombs regarding the quantity of bones and the anatomical parts selected. The typology of the urns indicates that they belong to an advanced phase of the Late Bronze Age I, 13th century BC, which is confirmed by 14C dates from the carbonates remaining in the burnt bones. The study of burial behaviour regarding the structure of the tombs reveals similarities with contemporaneous cemeteries in north-western Italy dated to the Late Bronze II and, in particular, with Canegrate in Lombardy. This new funerary group thus confirms the Transalpine origin of the practice of cremation in southern France at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age and constitutes its most western example. Unlike other cemeteries discovered in eastern Provence, the " Conservatoire" cemetery is located in an area where the influence of northern Italian ceramic productions is less important. While the funerary practices are related to Italian practices the urns themselves belong to the local style. It is the sign of a partial acculturation, testifying that the lower Rhone valley at that time was a buffer zone between traditions found to the North and the South of the Alps. Finally, this discovery invites us to question the importance of cremation in the funerary practices of southern populations at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. Indeed, until now, the few graves belonging to this type were only known in the Alp regions, close to Italy. They were thus interpreted as linked to a specific status of the deceased or as the result of individual mobility. Now, we may wonder whether the data available reflect reality or whether they depend, on the contrary, on the difficulty of identifying small funerary groups such as the one unearthed in Aix-en-Provence.