- Chapter Twenty-Nine -
5 •
.4) •o 5 10
Figure 29.2 Plan of the middle La Tene cremation cemetery at Tartigny (Oise). (After J.-L.
Massy and E. Mantel.) The five graves are numbered. The enclosures were identified from
aerial photos; the shaded areas were excavated; • = post-hole.
artefacts, and a few metal objects, excluding weapons. The inclusion of all these kinds
of objects in relation to this kind of burial is characteristic. The evidence suggests a
complex yet standardized ritual which took place at the time of the deposition of the
cremated remains, or possibly after it. We shall know more about this sequence when
archaeologists have examined a more extensive series of examples.
The north of the country, the Paris region and west-central France all have chariot
tombs datable from the Middle and Late La Tene periods and earliest Gallo-Roman
times. The dismantled chariot was frequently burned, so that only a few elements
have survived: parts of hubs or iron tyres, and perhaps a few items connected to the
body of the vehicle or of horse harness. This fragmentary evidence explains why
these burials have not been identified until recently. Weapons were offered in sacri-
fice, as happened in the sanctuaries discussed below, or were replaced by parade
weapons such as anthropomorphic-hilted daggers. The most recent series of these
tombs contains cooking utensils (iron grill frames), Italian amphorae, and imported
metal jugs and other items from wine-drinking services, renewing the tradition of the
banquet known earlier in the Iron Age. The Gaulish aristocracy is evidenced by these
rich tombs which most often seem to be associated with large country estates rather
than with the burgeoning agglomerations within each civitas (tribal area).