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A homeowner in Corbeil-Essonnes, France, accidentally discovered a skeleton in the midst of a renovation project in his home’s cellar.
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Throughout the four-room cellar, archaeologists eventually uncovered a total of 38 skeletal tombs.
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The site is believed to have once been a cemetery, dating back over 1,500 years.
It would probably come as a shock to you if you started renovating your basement and accidentally dug up a skeleton. Well, one homeowner in Corbeil-Essonnes, France recently lived through that exact experience when he started in on a project in his cellar. And it’s a good thing he didn’t keep going himself, because when archaeologists subsequently descended on the 560-square-foot, four-room cellar, they ended up unearthing an additional 37 skeletons and 10 plaster sarcophagi.
The neighborhood in which those skeletons were uncovered has a bit of a reputation for macabre discoveries, even if those finds haven’t been common since the 19th century. “The presence of a cemetery from the early Middle Ages in this area has been known for a long time,” Archeodunum, an archaeological research center recruited to assist the Regional Archaeology Service at the site, reported.
Plaster sarcophagi (typical of the period) have been discovered in the area since the 19th century. But scholars at that time assumed they were linked to the Notre Dame des Champs chapel, which was supposedly built in the seventh century over a pagan temple dedicated to the Roman god Mercury. However, there are no traces of that former construction remaining, and the burial site has never been studied in depth.
The dating of this new find now suggests that the cemetery is older than scientists believed it to be, with the first burials dating from late Antiquity—over 1,500 years ago and well before any chapel construction.
The 38 skeletons and 10 sarcophagi were found buried in parallel rows, despite rocky outcrops. This was common during the seven-century-long period between the third and 10th centuries A.D. in which the cemetery was likely in use.
The oldest remains found had been buried laying on their backs, often in wooden coffins placed in a deep pit. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, however, that practice shifted, and the deceased were buried in plaster sarcophagi. These structures were sometimes decorated, but the 10 found in France were not. The skeletons were arranged side by side in a fan-like shape, shifting slightly to the east as they went along.
While the sarcophagi didn’t have any special markings, one was topped with a block of soft stone. It was cut and sculpted, but since it is not complete, experts aren’t sure of its original shape. “We can distinguish part of a rosette, while the opposite side is a Latin cross and a cross inscribed in a circle,” the team wrote. “These motifs are regularly present on plaster sarcophagi and evoke the funerary domain, but also the ornaments which can appear on the facades of Christian places of worship.”
With the skeletons now removed from the site, the next step is the laboratory examination that the team hopes will allow them to determine the sexes, ages at death, and living conditions of the individuals found. Experts will also study the position of the bones and furniture in the grave. “The objective,” according to the team from Archeodunum “is to better understand the population who lived here during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, but also to understand the evolution of funerary traditions during these periods.”
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