
Jerome Rouquet
INRAP, Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives, Grand Sud Ouest, Department Member
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Papers by Jerome Rouquet
What was the function of this cemetery? The possible presence of slave burials was raised in the 1990s after the discovery on the beach of a servitude collar with a skull. This communication aims to present the excavation campaign that took place in 2014 and data that helped to clarify the status and operation of this cemetery. It will also seek to clarify how this site is fully integrated into the research theme on Guadeloupe cemeteries of the colonial period.
Résumé: Connu depuis de nombreuses années en raison des ossements régulièrement trouvés dans le sable, le cimetière de la Plage des Raisins Clairs à Saint-François est menacé de destruction par l’érosion et la fréquentation touristique. A ce titre, il a fait l’objet de deux opérations archéologiques dont une fouille de sauvetage urgent qui s’est déroulée du 13 janvier au 12 février 2014. Cette fouille a mis au jour 94 sépultures et une quarantaine de réductions.
Quelle était la fonction de ce cimetière? La possible présence de sépultures d’esclaves a été évoquée dès les années 1990 après la découverte sur la plage d’un collier de servitude associé à un crâne. Cette communication a pour objectif de présenter la campagne de fouille qui s’est déroulée en 2014 et les données qui ont permis de préciser le statut et le fonctionnement de ce cimetière. Elle s’attachera également à préciser comment ce site s’intègre pleinement dans la thématique de recherche sur les cimetières guadeloupéens de la période coloniale.
Resumen: Conocido desde hace varios años, a causa de las osamentas regularmente encontradas en la arena, el cementerio de la Playa de Raisins Clairs en Saint-François se encuentra amenazado de destrucción por la erosión y frecuentes visitas turísticas. Por lo tanto ha sido objeto de dos acciones arqueológicas entra las cuales una excavación de salvaguardia urgente que tuvo lugar del 13 de enero al 12 de febrero del año 2014. Esta excavación ha rebelado 94 sepulturas y una cuarentena de reducciones.
¿Cuál era la función de dicho cementerio? La posible presencia de sepultura de esclavos fue mencionada desde los años 1990 después del descubrimiento en la playa de un collar de servidumbre asociado a un cráneo. Esta comunicación tuvo como objetivo de presentar la campaña de excavaciones que se desarrolló en 2014 y los datos que han permitido precisar el estatuto y el funcionamiento de este cementerio. Igualmente se tratará de precisar cómo este sitio se integra plenamente en la temática de investigación acerca de los cementerios guadalupeños del periodo colonial .
Reflecting the social organization of the living population, these cemeteries usually had a clearly defined status: parochial, military, religious, for landowners and, of course, for slaves. The first four types are generally well represented in the archives, making them easy to identify. Conversely, slaves’ cemeteries are much more complex to characterize. Their location, in particular, is rarely mentioned on the ancient charts. But the main difficulty is that the status of the deceased is rarely perceptible through the archaeological data, and never through the anthropological ones.
Basing our argumentation on well documented colonial cemeteries, most of which have been excavated recently, we will try to display the archaeological and anthropological clues that may help to identify slaves in the archaeological record. We shall also try to show in what the study of all these cemeteries contributes to a better understanding of the colonial society.
Conference paper from : Cauliez J., Sénépart I., Jallot L., de Labriffe P.-A., Gilabert C., Gutherz X. (dir.), Halser A. et Ard V. (coll.), "De la tombe au territoire" et actualité de la recherche, Actes des 11e Rencontres méridionales de Préhistoire récente, Montpellier (25-27 septembre 2014), Archives d'Écologie Préhistorique, Toulouse, 2016, 634 p., p.187-198.
Characterized by the association of dwellings, cemeteries and community spaces, Artière-Ronzière represents a grouped settlement partially contained within an enclosure. This first locality represents probably one of the phases of the Neolithic occupation, and is the heart of the main settlement, not far from the river Artière. On the other hand, Le Colombier and Les Foisses, located at the southern and eastern periphery of the settlement zone, seem to represent more specialized collective activity areas dedicated to craft vocations. However, a building and a shelter located at Les Foisses also suggest the presence of a hamlet.
Four types of architectural structure have been identified on the settlement which includes a dozen buildings. The first three correspond to east-west oriented buildings, constructed using foundation trenches and supporting posts, buildings erected on narrow driven post foundation trenches, and those based on two trenches and a parallel axis of structural post holes. The fourth architectural form is represented by buildings built uniquely on structural posts.
The funerary complex, located on the northeastern part of the Artière Ronzière site, and on the outside of the enclosure, is composed of six pits that form a circle of about twenty meters in diameter. Five of them are burial pits and the sixth is a small megalith consists of a central stone slab, flanked by two oblong pits with packing. The large burial pits find no other equivalent among the features on the site, this argues in favor of storage pits being reused to deposit one or more bodies. The thirteen individuals buried, either individually or simultaneously, are clearly not all of the members of the Chasséen community who lived in Beaumont, this raises the question of representativeness of the deaths in this settlement. Burial practices here refer more to the vast southern cultural sphere than those of the North and the East of France.
Built on a strong local cultural base firmly rooted in the First Middle Neolithic of the Lower Auvergne and in a southern Chasséen atmosphere, some of the material assemblages gradually show signs of influences from other cultural groups from the North (Noyen, Michelsberg) and the East (NMB, Cortaillod), but also from the South of France (Quercy Chasséen, Languedoc, Provence, Chassey-Lagozza), reinterpretation for the ceramics or imitation for the lithic industries throughout the fourth millennium.