For the first time, researchers discovered bioarchaeological evidence of familial embalming in early modern France

A unique discovery has revealed new insights into the burial rituals of early modern Western Europe: For the first time, researchers have been able to provide bioarchaeological evidence of the familial embalming of infants and adults in early modern France.

For a long time, embalming practices were considered exotic rituals associated primarily with the ancient Egyptians or cultures in South America.

New finds at the Château des Milandes in Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, Dordogne, France, now prove that these techniques were also used in Europe.

The remains of seven adults and five children discovered in a cellar, as well as the remains of a single mummified buried woman, all belonging to the aristocratic Caumont family, provide researchers at the Austrian Academy of  Sciences (ÖAW) with valuable information. About embalming practices in the 16th and 17th centuries.

‘These finds provide unique insights into embalming techniques,’ says Caroline Partiot from the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

‘Our examinations of a complete individual and the almost 2,000 fragments show a careful and highly standardized technical treatment of the deceased, which is similar for adults and children. This reveals expertise that has been handed down over two centuries,’ says Caroline Partiot from the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Using the skeleton of the individuals in the crypt and the individual female body, which was buried alone, the researchers were able to examine the modus operandi of embalming based on the cut marks on the entire skeleton.

Particularly noteworthy is the precise skinning, which covered the entire body, including the upper and lower limbs down to the fingertips and toes.

These methods are similar to the procedures described in 1708 by the then-leading French surgeon Pierre Dionis.

Research has now shown that this was used in an 18th-century autopsy in Marseille. “It is remarkable that the tradition has persisted for at least two centuries,” explains the archaeologist.

The discovery of the tomb and the analysis of the skeletons show that this practice was a deeply rooted tradition within the Caumont family, which enjoyed high social status at the time. Partiot explains: ‘The treatment indicates that embalming was not so much for long-term preservation, but rather to be able to display the corpse during funeral ceremonies.’

This is because multiple embalmings in one and the same family are rare, and the only known case in medieval Western Europe in which multiple embalmings were carried out in one and the same family with children is the Medici family in Italy in the 15th century. “The application to family members, regardless of age at death and gender, also reflects the acquisition of this status by birth,” emphasizes Partiot.

Partiot, C., Bessou, M., Kacki, S. et al. First bioarchaeological evidence of the familial practice of embalming of infant and adult relatives in Early Modern France. Sci Rep 14, 27075 (2024).

A fossilized Neanderthal skeleton unearthed in France may have belonged to a previously undescribed lineage that split from other Neanderthals

The fossilized Neanderthal skeleton, discovered in a cave system in the Rhône Valley of France, represents a previously unidentified lineage that split from other Neanderthals around 100,000 years ago.

The researchers named the mysterious Neanderthal “Thorin” after a character from the universe of J. R. R. Tolkien.

Thorin’s fossilized remains were first discovered in 2015 in Grotte Mandrin—a well-studied cave system that also housed early Homo sapiens—and he is still being slowly excavated.

This latest work shows that the cavern also housed Neanderthals at a different time, around 40,000 to 45,000 years ago, towards the end of their existence as a species.

Based on Thorin’s location within the cave’s sediment, the team’s archeologists suspected that he lived around 40–45,000 years ago, making him a “late Neanderthal.” To determine his age and relationships with other Neanderthals, the team extracted DNA from his teeth and jaw and compared his full genome sequence to previously sequenced Neanderthal genomes.

Surprisingly, the initial genomic analysis suggested that Thorin was much older than the archeological age estimate because his genome was very distinct from other late Neanderthals and much more closely resembled the genomes of Neanderthals who lived more than 100,000 years ago.

By comparing his genome with those of other Neanderthals, researchers estimated Thorin lived around 105,000 years ago. However, archaeological evidence and analysis of the isotopes in his bones unequivocally showed that Thorin lived no more than 50,000 years ago.

To solve this riddle, the researchers analyzed isotopes from Thorin’s bones and teeth to gain insight into what type of climate he lived in—late Neanderthals lived during the Ice Age, while early Neanderthals enjoyed a much warmer climate.

The isotopic analysis showed that Thorin lived in a very cold climate, making him a late Neanderthal.

“For a very long time we [geneticists] were convinced that Thorin really was an early Neanderthal, just because his genetic lineage was so distantly related to contemporary Neanderthals in the same region,” says team member Tharsika Vimala of the University of Copenhagen. “On the other side, the archaeologists were convinced that he was a late Neanderthal.”

“We worked for seven years to find out who was wrong—archeologists or genomicists,” says co-first author and discoverer of Thorin, Ludovic Slimak, CNRS researcher of Université Toulouse Paul Sabatier.

Compared to previously sequenced Neanderthal genomes, Thorin’s genome most closely resembled an individual excavated in Gibraltar, and Slimak speculates that Thorin’s population migrated to France from Gibraltar.

“This means there was an unknown Mediterranean population of Neanderthals whose population spanned from the most western tip of Europe all the way to the Rhône Valley in France,” says Slimak.

Knowing that Neanderthal communities were small and insular could be key to understanding their extinction because isolation is generally considered to be a disadvantage for population fitness.

“It’s always a good thing for a population to be in contact with other populations,” says Vimala. “When you are isolated for a long time, you limit the genetic variation that you have, which means you have less ability to adapt to changing climates and pathogens, and it also limits you socially because you’re not sharing knowledge or evolving as a population.”

However, to really understand how Neanderthal populations were structured and why they went extinct, the researchers say that more Neanderthal genomes need to be sequenced.

A Decorated Block with Decapitated Gaul Found for the First Time in Toul, France

A Corinthian-style carved block that was once part of the entablature of a monumental Gallo-Roman public building has been discovered in Toul, northeastern France. This is the first time an architectural element of this size, Corinthian-style found in Toul.

In Toul, a city in northeastern France, a large-scale construction project is underway to install a heating network, a system of underground pipes that pump hot water, preventing the need for individual boilers or electric heaters in every building.

The operation involved following the opening of several sections of trenches for the installation of the future district heating network, over a total length of around 2 km, from March to November 2024. Researchers didn’t expect to make monumental discoveries along the way.

Toul is an ancient city existing in a modern time, built first at the crossroads of Roman roads and then developed well into the 19th century, according to a news release from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research.

The ancient, medieval, and modern town of Tullum-Toul developed at the confluence of the Moselle and the Ingressin stream, at the foot of the Moselle hills. It is located at the crossroads of Roman roads (including the Via Agrippa), ancient paths, and bridges spanning the Moselle. It has flourished since ancient times, becoming the chief town of the Belgic Leuci trib.

Originally a Leuci hillfort (oppidium), the town was surrounded by massive defensive walls constructed by the Romans in the late third or early fourth century. These walls largely relied on spoglia, which are repurposed building materials from older structures. The walls stood for centuries. The walls and 15 towers remained in active use until the fortifications were rebuilt in 1700.

Toul became the seat of a bishopric in the fourth century and of a vast diocese based on the ancient Pagus Tullensis. From the middle of the sixteenth century, Toul was associated with the three Lorraine bishoprics of Verdun and Metz, which became part of the kingdom of France.

Archaeologists from France’s National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) that a fragment of the ancient wall seven feet thick was discovered in April, followed by a low masonry and rubble wall nearby. The carved block of stone was discovered 20 feet away from this second wall.

Archaeologists believe the block once belonged to a monumental building, but then at some point later in history it was broken and used as part of the defensive wall.

The block of white limestone is a sizable portion of an elaborately carved entablature. Its dimensions are four feet wide by 3.3 feet deep by 1.7 feet high, and its weight exceeds 880 pounds.  It was likely larger before it was broken apart. It features two elaborate modillions, which are brackets that support tall, flat architectural elements like roofs and cornices. It is broken at both ends, likely damaged when it was torn off an old building for reuse in the wall.

The modillions feature acanthus-like vegetal decoration on one and the Gallo-Roman version of a Green Man figure on the other. Between the modillions are two rectangular metopes. One is carved with what appears to be a shield, the other with an iconographic type seen on local potin leuque coins from the 1st B.C.

In between the artistic carvings, a more violent image is cut into the stone. The severed head of a Gaul is carved with a hollow eye, and the head is resting on what is identified as a Roman sword. Archaeologists said the image is a clear depiction of the Romans’ victory over the Gallic people in northeastern France.

Although a large mausoleum located north of Trier has an entablature with similar features, this block’s elaborate decoration and size suggest it was part of a monumental public building. Comparable examples from the second century A.D. can be seen on the facades of temples, theaters, baths, triumphal arches, and gates.

The block has been placed in temporary storage at the INRAP headquarters in Metz. It will cleaned, conserved, and studied before eventually going on display in the Toul Museum.

Archaeologists uncover ‘astonishing’ remains of horses buried 2,000 years ago

Archaeologists in France have uncovered nine “astonishing” graves containing the skeletons of 28 horses that were buried about 2,000 years ago, though their precise cause of death remains a mystery.

Discovered in Villedieu-sur-Indre, a commune in central France, two of the graves have been fully excavated so far, the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) said in a statement.

The horses have been radiocarbon-dated back to somewhere between 100 BC to 100 AD.

Archaeologists found 10 complete horse skeletons in one pit and two in the other, all carefully placed in the same manner lying on their right flank with their heads to the south.

All these horses were buried at the same time shortly after their deaths, archaeologists said after observing the position of the skeletons and the connections between the bones.

Another grave is situated between these two pits but it contains two medium-sized dogs, both lying on their left side with their heads facing west.

Archaeologists have yet to fully excavate the remaining graves but have already identified a total of 28 horses from the skulls and coxal bones that appear on the surface.

Killed in battle, or ritual sacrifice?

However, the horses’ precise cause of death still remains unclear.

Archaeologists have ruled out an epidemic since there are no foals or mares in these graves; all the skeletons are fully-grown stallions aged over four years old. That leaves, archaeologists said, the possibilities that these horses were either killed in battle or as part of a ritual sacrifice.

When these horses died about 2,000 years ago, there was a fortified Celtic settlement known as an oppidum just a few hundred meters away and this location mirrors that of two other similar horse burial sites that archaeologists had previously uncovered in the same region.

Due to this location, they have hypothesized that the horses’ deaths at the sites could be connected to the battles of the Gallic Wars in which Julius Caesar conquered Gaul between 58 – 50 BC.

There may be another explanation, however: ritual sacrifice.

“The hypothesis that these animals were sacrificed as part of a complex ritual, of which only a few scraps remain, must also be considered,” the INRAP statement said.

If these horses were indeed buried as part of a ritual rather than killed in battle, the sheer number shows the “importance and extent of the sacrifice,” the statement added.

Other finds at the site, which sits on the slope of a valley, include buildings, pits, ditches and a road that archaeologists dated to the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

Ancient Roman graves with funerary festival evidence discovered in southern France

Archaeologists have unearthed a sprawling ancient Roman cemetery in southern France containing 1,430 graves and evidence of funerary banquets held in honor of deceased family members.

Excavations of the cemetery, called the Robine necropolis due to its proximity to a canal of the same name, began in 2017 ahead of construction work in the city of Narbonne. The funerary complex was “remarkably well-preserved,” having been buried beneath a 10-foot (3 meters) blanket of silt during flooding of the nearby Aude River, according to a translated statement.

The graves and artifacts date to between the end of the first century B.C. and the end of the third century A.D. and include more than 100 tombs containing children’s remains. Subsequent analyses showed the method of burial differed depending on the age of the deceased person: Children were buried, while the majority of adults were cremated.

Adults who were buried without cremation were placed in wooden coffins, whereas children were placed in more rudimentary boxes or pits closed with a cover, according to the statement. 

Some graves were scattered with chunks of charred food — including dates, figs, cereals and bread. Archaeologists think these were left over from feasts held by families in remembrance of deceased relatives.

The feasts may have been part of a nine-day-long Roman festival known as “Parentalia,” which families celebrated every year in February. The festival ended with an event called “Feralia” on Feb. 21, when families gathered in cemeteries with food, wine and other offerings for the dead.

Excavations at the Robine necropolis uncovered several stone structures that may have served as banquet beds for families celebrating Feralia, according to the statement.

The remains of libation tubes — hollow ceramic tubes inserted in the ground above graves — suggests families symbolically shared Feralia feasts with the dead by pouring food into their relatives’ graves.

The fully excavated necropolis spans 54,000 square feet (5,000 square m) and sits 2,300 feet (700 m) to the east of Narbonne’s ancient Roman center. Narbonne, which was known in antiquity as Narbo Martius, was one of the first Roman colonies outside of Italy.

The city was founded in 118 B.C. along the Via Domitia, a road stretching from Italy and across southern France to Spain.

The necropolis has two main areas arranged into a regular patchwork of burial plots and service roads, according to the statement. The first area borders a north-south road that crosses the Via Domitia and the second forms a strip further north, alongside a road linking Narbonne to the Mediterranean coast.

The archaeologists found that the cemetery evolved over time, highlighting changes in the layout of plots, tombs and boundaries. They discovered high stone walls erected around A.D. 50 that separated burials from one another, as well as extensions of the cemetery and further enclosures built toward the end of the first century A.D.

The walls were decorated with marble funerary plaques that revealed the people buried in the necropolis were mostly Italian freedmen, according to the statement.

Many of the burials contained grave goods, including vases, balsams, lamps, coins and jewelry. These artifacts — along with a special set of amulets, miniature tools, bells and phallic pendants, which were viewed as apotropaic, or able to ward off evil — will be exhibited at the Narbo Via museum in Narbonne starting in 2026, according to the statement. 

Carbon-Based Paleolithic Paintings Found in France

A paper was published this month by researchers at the Center de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, revealing that the first carbon-based cave art has been found in Dordogne’s famous Bison Cave.

Researchers Ina Reiche, Yvan Coquinot, Antoine Trosseau, and Anne Maigret have published their findings from the Font-de-Gaume cave in southern France, which is being celebrated as a potential breakthrough for precise radiocarbon dating.

The site was discovered in 1901 and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979 as part of the Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley.

More than 200 caves filled with Paleolithic (dating from roughly 2.5 million to 12,000 years ago) wall drawings can be found in France’s Dordogne region.

Most of these paintings have been made with iron and manganese oxides, which cannot be dated through radiocarbon dating technologies. This has prevented accurate dating of the designs. However, the first-ever discovery of black carbon-based designs in the Font-de-Gaume cave have opened up an opportunity for groundbreaking reevaluations across the region.

Before these discoveries were made, the wall paintings in the Dordogne were dated to around 12,000 to 17,000 years ago, during the Magdalenian Period. With the new discovery, this could be reevaluated to a much more accurate timeline, pushing dates back more than 2,000 years. The team first found the charcoal-based drawings in February 2020.

The Bison Cave is named after the Paleolithic drawings of animals on its main gallery walls. It is considered one of the best examples of ancient wall painting along with the nearby Lascaux cave.

There are 80 bisons shown on the walls of Font-de-Gaume, in various colors achieved with natural pigments. The French chemist and pharmacist Henri Moissan’s work to identify the pigments used in the drawings won him the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

New research has been done using visible-light and infrared photography, x-ray fluorescence, and spectroscopy, revealing the carbon-based drawings underneath previously known designs. Charcoal depictions of horses, deer, and bison were discovered.

This research will aid comparative research across other sites in the region, and is being heralded as “crucial for archaeological research in the coming years.”

Intact 1,800-Year-Old Roman Sarcophagus With Unexpected Treasures Found In France

It does not happen often that archaeologists find an ancient, unlooted Roman sarcophagus. When it happens, like it just did in France, it is an excellent opportunity to learn more about the past.

“It’s quite exceptional, it’s the first time that we have found a tomb intact and which has not been looted. It was sealed by eight iron staples, and we were the first to explore it,” Agnès Balmelle, deputy scientific and technical director at Inrap Grand Est, told local news Le Parisien.

The 1,800-year-old sarcophagus was unearthed by a team of archaeologists from INRAP (France’s National Institute for Preventive Archaeology) excavating in the vast ancient necropolis at Rue Soussillon.

The ancient Durocortorum (Reims) was the capital of the province of Gaul Belgium, and one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire.

Scientists have excavated 1,200 m² on Rue Soussillon, which represents only a portion of a vast ancient necropolis.

The high density of tombs is particularly interesting in this part of the city since it has long been considered a swampy area unsuitable for any settlement.

During the recent excavation, scientists discovered a lime sarcophagus limestone that measures 3.3 feet high, 5.4 feet long, and 2.6 feet wide, with a 1,700-pound lid held in place by iron pegs sealed with lead.

The archaeologists first did X-rays on the sarcophagus then used an endoscopic camera.

Inside the sarcophagus were funerary goods placed next to the skeleton of a woman.

“The skeleton occupied the entire space of the [5-foot] tank, the individual must have been around 40 years old and had a special status. Four oil lamps were found near her legs and shoulders, as well as a small mirror, an amber ring, and a comb,” Balmelle told the press.

Inside the sarcophagus were also two glass containers possibly containing perfumed oils.

The unearthed items indicate that the burial occurred in the 2nd century A.D. Samples of the sediment on the bones and on the bottom of the tank will make it possible to determine if there are plant remains or products linked to the treatment of bodies.

Furthermore, the Inrap team in Reims is building a genetic database on ancient Reims funerary complexes as part of a research project.

DNA taken from a tooth from the skeleton will be compared to 80 samples to determine whether this woman belongs to a local or more distant elite.

The Oldest Known Neanderthal Engravings were Discovered in a French Cave

According to a recently published study, the oldest engravings made by Neanderthals have been discovered on a cave wall in France. Hundreds of faint stripes, dots, and wavy lines at the Loire Valley site were created more than 57,000 years ago, say researchers.

Hundreds of faint stripes, dots, and wavy lines that adorn a cave wall in central France are the oldest known engravings made by Neanderthals, according to Jean-Claude Marquet of the University of Tours in France and colleagues, who analyzed ancient markings.

The authors of the study published in PLOS One analyzed, plotted, and 3D modeled these intriguing markings and compared them with other wall markings of all types to confirm that they are the organized, intentional products of human hands.

The team also dated deep sediment layers that had buried the cave’s opening to reveal that it was sealed up with the engravings inside at least 57,000 years ago and as long as 75,000 years ago—long before Homo sapiens arrived in this part of Europe.

The authors said: “Fifteen years after the resumption of excavations at the La Roche-Cotard site, the engravings have been dated to over 57,000 years ago and, thanks to stratigraphy, probably to around 75,000 years ago, making this the oldest decorated cave in France, if not Europe!”

Over the past few decades, research has shed light on the cultural sophistication of Neanderthals. However, our understanding of their symbolic and artistic expression remains limited.

Only a short list of symbolic productions is attributed to Neanderthals, and the interpretation of these is often the subject of debate.

This, combined with the fact that the stone tools within the cave are only Mousterian, a technology associated with Neanderthals, is strong evidence that these engravings are the work of Neanderthals.

Because these are non-figurative symbols, the intent behind them is unclear. 

However, they share a similar age with Homo sapiens engravings found in other parts of the world. This adds to the mounting evidence that Neanderthal behavior and activities were as complex and varied as those of our own ancestors.

“For a long time, it was thought that Neanderthals were incapable of thinking other than to ensure their subsistence,” notes archaeologist and study co-author Jean-Claude Marquet, of the University of Tours, France.

“I think this discovery should lead prehistorians who have doubts about Neanderthal skills to reconsider.”

La Roche-Cotard is an ancient cave nestled on a wooded hillside above the Loire River. It was first uncovered in 1846, when quarries were operated in the area during the construction of a railroad line.