Recent excavations in Dijon have revealed a wealth of archaeological features under a yard at the Joséphine Baker school. This fieldwork was undertaken by Inrap after an archaeological assessment indicated the presence of occupation traces ranging from the 1st century AD to the present day. The site itself lies in the southern part of central Dijon, within the circuit of the medieval city wall. Even so, there was reason to believe that, despite this urban setting, the site had avoided being densely built up. Prior to it becoming a schoolyard, the area had belonged to the nearby convent of the Cordeliers. Since the medieval period, they had mainly used the plot as a garden. Before then, during the era of the Roman Empire, the site was situated outside and to the south of the settlement, in a vast plain. Vestiges of all these periods were encountered during the excavations, but the most remarkable discovery dated back even further in time to the Gallic period of the Iron Age, and more specifically around 300-200 BC. It was then that a series of 13 pits was dug, arranged in a straight line that ran north–south for a distance of at least 25m. Each of these pits contained an individual burial arranged in a seated position. This treatment of the deceased is extremely rare for the period, with only 50 examples previously known. None of them lay within a formal cemetery, raising questions about what this distinctive burial rite signifies.
The Inrap excavations were carried out over two successive phases in October and December 2024, covering an area of approximately 1,000m². Initial stripping of the site revealed layers belonging to the gardens associated with the convent of the Cordeliers. The second phase of work went deeper, reaching the natural substrata (in this case, alluvial gravels from the Suzon river) and revealing a range of features along the way. These included rows of pits from an apparent Gallo-Roman plantation, a necropolis dating to the first half of the 1st century AD, and finally the row of Iron Age pits. These last lay towards the western edge of the area available for investigation, and while the southern end of the pit alignment could be securely identified, the northern terminus was not. Instead, the alignment stretched towards the limit of the excavated area, which was marked by buildings belonging to the school. The burials also lay adjacent to a modern right-of-way running near the school boundary wall, which meant that special care had to be taken in order to ensure that the foundations were not destabilised.
Sitting out eternity
The individual burial pits were circular in plan and approximately 1m in diameter. They were neatly laid out, with intervals of 0.8m to a little over 1m between them. Care had also been taken to arrange the individuals within the pits so that they shared several common features. All of the deceased had been placed with their backs against the eastern wall of their pit, while their faces looked to the west. Their arms were extended, so that they ran alongside the torso, with their hands positioned near the pelvis or thigh bones. By contrast, their legs are sharply bent, and often asymmetrically so. As most of the bones remain articulated, it seems that the graves were rapidly sealed after burial, before the organic material holding them in place had decayed. In general, the preservation of the skeletons was good, too, although in some cases the shallowest bones had been displaced or destroyed by subsequent activity.
Technological evolution