Scientists have discovered 50 tombs in an ancient necropolis in the center of Paris, just a few meters from a busy train station. These graves provide a unique view into life in Lutetia, the forerunner to the French capital, approximately 2,000 years ago.
One of the skeletons unearthed in an ancient necropolis found metres from a busy Paris train station
Despite numerous road construction projects over the years and the 1970s construction of the Port-Royal station on the historic Left Bank, the underground necropolis was somehow never discovered.
However, preparations for a new train station exit led to an archaeological dig.
There are already "strong suspicions" that the site is near to Lutetia's southern necropolis, according to Camille Colonna, an anthropologist of France's National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP).
The largest cemetery in the Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia, the "Saint Jacques" necropolis, was previously only partially excavated in the 1800s.
However, the numerous skeletons, burial offerings, and other relics were left in the tombs, and only items deemed valuable were removed.
After then, the necropolis was covered up and once more forgotten by time.
One part that had never been dug was found by the INRAP crew.
"No one has seen it since antiquity," claimed Dominique Garcia, president of INRAP.
Colonna added that the team was "very happy" to have discovered a skeleton with a coin lodged in its mouth, which allowed researchers to date the burial to the second century AD.
50 tombs have been discovered as a result of the dig, which started in March. All of the sites were used for burial rather than cremation, which was also typical at the time.
Ferryman of Hades
The men, women, and kids are thought to be Parisii, a Gallic people who resided in Lutetia at the time that the town on the Seine River's banks was governed by the Roman Empire.
The wooden coffins in which the skeletons were interred could now only be recognized by their nails.
More than half of them were interred with gifts like pottery jugs and goblets.
A penny was occasionally placed in the coffin or even in the mouth of the deceased, a custom known as Charon's obol that was widespread at the period.
The coin was used as a bribe by Charon, the ferryman of Hades in Greek mythology, to ferry the souls of the deceased across the Styx River.
The little nails that would have been in the soles of the shoes allowed the archaeologists to identify them when they were discovered within the graves.
According to Colonna, the shoes were "either laid at the feet of the dead or next to them, like an offering".
Belts, hairpins, and jewelry were also found.
In a pit where it was believed that animals had been offered as sacrifices to the gods, the complete skeletons of a pig and another small animal were found.
This time, as opposed to the excavation in the 1800s, the crew intends to take everything out of the necropolis for analysis.
"This will allow us to understand the life of the Parisii through their funeral rites, as well as their health by studying their DNA," Colonna stated.
Garcia claimed that "generally little is known" about Paris' early history.
The recently discovered burials provide "a window into the world of Paris during antiquity," he continued.
