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Goudelancourt-les-Pierrepont : Merovingian Cemetery and Habitation Site

The necropolis of Goudelancourt was the object of excavations which lasted for six years, from 1981 to 1987. Discovered in the middle of farm fields during plowing, the site consisted of two contemporary, but very distinct, cemeteries. 458 tombs were excavated ; 324 were part of the first cemetery, and 134 of the second.

The general layout of a necropolis in two cemeteries is rare. The most likely hypothesis is that a group, perhaps a family, who were more religious than the others, decided to be set apart from the rest of the population, and did so by abandoning the original cemetery and thus creating the second one. From one cemetery to the other the orientation of the tombs is different. The tombs were found in a south-southwest / north-northwest direction in the first, and in a distinctly west/east direction in the second.

Dug into a bank of chalk, the graves were of a more or less rectangular shape, rounded off at both ends. The size of each tomb depended on the size of the individual. Several big communal graves were uncorvered in which the individuals were placed side by side.

At Goudelancourt the rituals practiced at burial were not original. No cremations were discovered. The practice of burying an individual dressed was the rule. For this reason, assorted clothing accessories such as buckles and belt buckles were found in situ, as well as different items indicating the social rank of the deceased : weapons for the men, jewelry for the women.

In many cases the deceased was found with some pottery placed at the feet. The wealth of these graves was well known and led to plundering. For this reason, barely 10 % of the graves were found intact. The only outside traces of the sepulchers were a few stelae or stones which outlined the individual in certain graves.

In general, the deceased were buried lying on their backs with their heads to the west. Their arms were placed alongside their bodies, folded over the pelvis, or a combination of the two.

Burial in open ground was used in 60 % of the cemetery. It is the predominant rite in the second cemetery where 75 % of the burials took place in open ground. Wooden caskets or coffins were found in 37 % of the graves. All of the existing sarcophagi were destroyed by plowing the fields. A decorated stone and numerous fragments testify to their existence.

In spite of the destruction caused by farm work and pillaging, the number of objects found is quite large : ceramics, weapons, clothing accessories, and jewelry. All are characteristic of the 6th and 7th centuries.

A chronological study of each object indicates that there were four phases of occupation of the necropolis. Phase 1 from about 530-540 A.D. to 560-570 A.D corresponds to the creation of the first cemetery. Phase 2 from about 560-570 A.D. to 580-590 A.D. saw the creation of the second cemetery. Phase 3 lasted from 580-590 A.D. to 620-640 A.D., and Phase 4 extended from 620-640 A.D. to 680-690 A.D. Phases 2 and 3 are best represented in the Goudelancourt necropolis. Both cemeteries experienced concentric development.

An anthropological study was conducted on 40 % of the individuals. As in other sites, there was a small proportion of children - only 12 %. The adult population was characterized by a high mortality rate of young adults (aged 18-30 years). The study showed that the living conditions for the population of Goudelancourt were very difficult and deteriorated between the 6th and 7th centuries due to epidemics of the black plague.

Infant and child mortality were high ; slightly more than 25 % of infants died before the age of one year, and 33-50 % before the age of 5. Life expectancy at birth was 35 years.

Researchers were able to reconstruct the living population based on a series of indicators. There were 126 individuals, that is, a communuty of 21 families. The existence of the large second cemetery seems to support the hypothesis of two distinct population groups.

The settlement was discovered 150m south of the necropolis. The excavation took place from 1988 to 1992. The settlement had all the characteristics of a farming and domestics community of the Merovingian era. It was spread over an area of 1.5 ha.

Numerous ditches, various remnants from the houses, several ovens, drainage ditches, and a well were excavated. The main structures that were unearthed were huts in which the foundations were dug out (30-70 cm deep). There were different types of huts having 2, 4 or 6 support posts. Those having two posts were the most numerous.

The uses of these huts seem to have been purely domestic : animal shelters, tool sheds, garrets, and various workshops. However, it is quite possible that some of these huts, probably the largest, were used as workshops as well as living quarters such as dormitories.

The outlines of five buldings were discovered. All were discovered by alignments of post holes. Each buildings had a rectangular or trapezoidal shape. The area of each was larger than that of the huts. The buildings were probably at the center of the settlement's economic activity and used as barns, stables, or large workshops. Many metal deposits were found near one of these buildings, suggesting that one of the inhabitans worked with iron, perhaps as a blacksmith.

One building was noticed immediately because it was quite different from the others. This building measured 8.5 m long by 6 m wide and had a framework of 16 support posts. Three of these posts were ridge poles in the center of the building and supported the roofing. The other 13 were part of distinctly parallel walls. An entrance with a canopy was built in the northeast. In the southwest corner the remains of a hearth were perfectly visible. The discovered of this hearth is very exceptional and is proof that this building was nothing other than a home.

The discovery 160 m to the west, of a pair of huts points to the probability of other farm buildings located to the west of the site in the valley. Follow-up excavations allow researchers to determine whether Goudelancourt-les-Pierrepont was a site composed of several isolated farming communities spread out in the valley, or a succession of hamlets, or perhaps a one-street town.

Texte : Alain NICE

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