Une inhumation sous tumulus de l’Âge du Bronze et une occupation de la fin du Néolithique à Gonesse, La Fosse aux Larrons (Val-d’Oise)

Abstract

A rescue excavation was launched after a tumulus with a stone lining, containing a central inhumation was accidentally exposed by construction work in the Crould valley, north of Paris, in 1976. The various environmental studies (geoarchaeology, malacology, palynology) made it possible to reconstruct the evolution of the landscape during the Subboreal in relation with successive human occupations. Stratigraphy shows that the first occupation is characterized by a partially preserved archaeological layer containing pottery, lithic and faunal remains. Artifacts of the same nature were found in the tumulus, the construction of which had partly destroyed the earlier occupation. The study of the monument revealed that a circular ditch was used to provide sediments for a central core, surrounded by a lining of stones covered by a layer of soil, itself overlain by a thin organic level. The centre of the monument contained a male burial with no grave goods. A detailed anthropological analysis was undertaken of this individual. According to 14C dates, environmental analyses and the study of the artifacts, the occupation most likely dates to the beginning of Final Neolithic and the building of the tumulus to the transition between the Early and Middle Bronze Age.