Archaeologists have continued work on a Late Iron Age/Early Roman period necropolis, with a total of 74 graves uncovered, including 31 new inhumations in Central France. As modernization has rapidly changed the area with housing expansions, the outskirts of the historic town of Esvres-sur-Indre  has also been the site for the new findings and study.

The necropolis itself has been known since 1909 after the publication of a preliminary study carried out at the time of the planting of a vineyard. In fact, in 1999 a group of 29 burials were excavated at Vaugrignon.  The graves found at the time were clustered in discreet areas corresponding perhaps to social or family groups and organized around enclosures whose function is not yet clear but may relate to funeral rites.  Archeologists believe that the extent, number and diversity of burials found in the area, show the importance of the site during the late Gallic and Gallo-Roman periods, and the tombs must relate to a substantial settlement that lies beneath the current town and suggests a continuous occupation for over 2200 years.

A very interesting finding was that most of the tombs excavated have contained children. However, since the acidity of the subsoil often does not allow good preservation of organic matter including skeletal material and many of graves were found to be ‘empty’. Twenty four did however contain enough skeletal material to be able to identify 18 children and 6 adults.
The graves frequently contain wooden coffins, of which only the nails are preserved. The dead are accompanied by a rich selection of objects, sometimes mounted on wooden supports arranged within the grave including terracotta pottery including jugs, cups, plates and pots.

Excerpts by permission from original article published by www.pasthorizonspr.com
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/03/2014/new-discoveries-at-the-gallic-necropolis-of-esvres-sur-indre.