Juliette DURAND, Paulette LAWRENCE-DUBOVAC, Cécile MONCHABLON, Caroline PESCHAUX DISCOVERY OF A BURIAL IN THE SEALED MEANDER OF THE MARNE AT MEAUX (SEINE-ET-MARNE, FRANCE) AND THE QUESTION OF ITS CHRONOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTION

Abstract

In 2011, a burial was unearthed by the l’Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventive (Inrap) on the banks of a palaeochannel of the river Marne at Meaux-Liaison Nord Hôpital. A large sandstone block weighing 500 kg covered the primary burial of an adult or adolescent of undetermined gender. The body had probably been placed in a sitting position and was adorned with perforated gastropod fossils found around the pelvis and the back. Even though the burial was found in association with Late Neolithic features, its radiocarbon date pinpoints the Late Palaeolithic or the beginning of the Mesolithic era which confirms the initial dating of the conditions of burial and the grave goods.

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