Published in:
Gallia préhistoire, 49 (2007) 1, Seite 127-159
Language:
French
DOI:
10.3406/galip.2007.2453
ISSN:
0016-4127
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
Abstract. The Coste Rouge tomb is a sub-megalithic funerary structure in a pit of a type known in the Middle Neolithic (Pyrenean group of Solsona or peri-Alpine group of Chamblandes), Chalcholithic and Early Bronze Age. Though damaged by ploughing, we were able to restore its architecture and observe that the last slab put in place was not the cover, as in the case of coffin or cist tombs, but that of the small south-east side, and that this latter was preceded by a space in the pit of the “chamber”. This structure contained the remains of a child laid on its back. It was wearing an ornament with two rows of Dentalium shells around its left shoulder and a set of foliate pendants shaped from bone plaques was found near its head. It was also accompanied by two bladelets in Bedoulan blonde flint from the Vaucluse region, two winged and stemmed points, and four bone awls grouped near the left hand. The architecture of the grave goods reveals typological affinities with certain Catalonian funerary ensembles from the Solsona region, suggesting an attribution to the end of the Middle Neolithic (Languedoc Chassean period), which has been confirmed by a radiocarbon date. This tomb yielded a deposit of domestic (bovid, caprids, canid) and wild (bear, canid) faunal remains that are intimately related to the cadaver deposit and could represent amulets or constitute a symbolic representation of an accompanying bestiary. Translation: Magen O’Farrell