The Prissé-la-Charrière long mound is one of two adjacent 5th millennium limestone cairns standing in woodland some 25 kms south of Niort in western France. Excavations from 1995 have revealed a complex arrangement of internal structures including three separate burial chambers. The westernmost of these stands within a rotunda and appears to be the core from which the monument subsequently grew. The rotunda grave was later incorporated in a ‘short’ long mound encircled by a quadrangular rock-cut ditch.
This initial long mound was subsequently extended eastwards by the construction of a 100-metre long mound of cellular construction. The edges of the new mound were marked by twin dry-stone kerbs, and within its mass were two separate burial chambers of passage grave type. The western passage grave, badly ruined but with a single orthostat surviving in situ, was excavated from 1998-2001. Exploration of the largely intact eastern passage is still in its early stages.
The excavations at Prissé-la-Charrière are directed by Dr Chris Scarre (McDonald Institute, Cambridge), Dr Luc Laporte (CNRS, Rennes) and Dr Roger Joussaume (CNRS, Paris). Accounts of earlier seasons of work can be found on this website. What follows is a summary of the fieldwork carried out in 2003. Published preliminary accounts can be found in Gallia Préhistoire 2002 and in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 2003.
One major aim of the 2002 & 2003 seasons was to complete a full topographical survey of the two long mounds at Prissé-la-Charrière. This work was postponed from 2002 but completed in 2003 by a team from the Museum of London Archaeological Service. A detailed topographical survey was undertaken of the excavated mound and its surroundings, including a second long mound to the south and a greyish soil mark in the next field to west. (Fig 1)
This topographical survey was complemented by the excavation of a long (c.30m) machine-dug trench between the southern kerb of the excavated mound and its southern neighbour. This revealed that the whole of the intervening space was occupied by quarry hollows, with multiple episodes of cutting and recutting. (Figs 2 & 3)
Further work in 2003 was carried out on the western rotunda (Fig. 4): this appears to be the earliest element of the monument, a small chamber formed by 5 modest-sized megalithic slabs within a circular dry-stone surround. The irregular nature of the dry-stonework indicates that the rotunda is not a single-phase structure. The entrance arrangements of the chamber have also been altered on at least one occasion. It may initially have been a sealed megalithic chamber. Towards the end of the 2003 season a small part of the rotunda was dismantled. This work confirmed that the rotunda was a multi-phase structure. The discovery of human phalanges within the stonework of what should be one of the earliest parts of the rotunda suggests that funerary activity had begun in the vicinity before the rotunda was built. It may be that the western chamber was a free-standing mortuary structure before it was enclosed within the rotunda.
The south-east angle of the phase I outer wall had been revealed by excavation in 1999. In 2003, the north-east angle was explored and followed southwards across the original face of the phase I mound. The removal of phase II material that had been placed against this eastern face exposed the double-skin wall of phase I behind. It appears that the phase I outer wall was double-skinned along the whole of the northern and eastern faces of the early 23-metre long mound, though the north-east angle itself had been lost to erosion. (Fig 5)
At its western end the 100-metre long mound, labelled here as Phase II in the Prissé-la-Charrière construction sequence, was built over the top of the ‘short’ long mound of Phase I. The heightening of the mound was clearly visible in cross-section, where the stone covering of the early mound could be seen curving downwards to the outer wall of the ‘short’ long mound, now entirely enclosed within the Phase II enlargement. (Fig. 6)
A major focus of excavation in 2003 was the eastern passage grave, where the presence of a largely intact but unstable dry-stone chamber had been determined in 2002. At the beginning of the 2003 season, the passage capstone from in front of this chamber was removed to allow excavation of the inner part of the passage fill. This unblocked the chamber revealing chamber entrance, and was followed by consultation with specialists from the Ministère de la Culture as to the safest and most suitable method for excavating the chamber contents. Further work was postponed until 2004, when a detailed digital scan of the chamber interior will be conducted before the capstone is lifted.
The continued excavation of the circular dry-stone cairn around the second passage grave revealed the greater part of its external elevation, down to bedrock (or nearly so) on the southwest, northwest and northeast sides. (Figs. 7, 8 & 9)
Remaining areas of topsoil were removed from the surface of the mound in the few areas that had not yet been cleared. This was followed by surface excavation of the structures immediately beneath, including a relatively well-preserved portion of the inner kerb extending for a length of over 20m at the south-eastern side of the mound. (Figs 10 & 11)
The excavation of the lime kiln built into the southern flank of the mound was completed in 2003. This revealed a well-built masonry structure with central trough and traces of intense heat (fused and reddened stones). A radiocarbon date on charcoal gave an age 2052±50 BP (cal 200 BC-AD 70 at 2 s.d.). While this could make the kiln a late Iron Age structure, a Gallo-Roman attribution (post-50 BC) is more likely given the nature of the wood charcoal (oak). (Figs. 12, 13 & 14)
The Oxford Radiocarbon Dating Service provided two further dates on human bone
samples from the site:
5241±37 (4225-3965 cal BC) from a grave cut into the upper fill of the
primary ditch
5260±110 (4335-3800 cal BC) from a burial in the passage of the eastern
passage grave
The first indicates that the ditch of the phase I monument must have been filled
within a short period after its original cutting, perhaps as an intentional
act. The second coincides with dates for burials from both the ruined (western)
passage grave and the early rotunda grave. It is still not possible to derive
a phasing for the mound based on the evidence of the C14 dates from the different
structures.
The primary tasks for 2004 are:
A new transverse trench across the eastern part of the mound will also be initiated. It is hoped to call a halt to this phase of the excavation in 2004, with however the possibility that the engineering problems associated with removal of the capstone may necessitate a no-cost extension of the programme into 2005.
Enquiries about the excavations at Prissé-la-Charrière should
be addressed to Chris Scarre (cjs16@cam.ac.uk)
at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.
The fieldwork reported here was funded by grants from the British Academy, The
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Resarch, the Conseil Général
des Deux-Sèvres and the Ministère de la Culture.
Fig. 4. View from western end of monument, with rotunda grave in foreground.
Fig. 7. Circular dry-stone cairn around eastern passage grave, from south.
Fig. 8. Circular dry-stone cairn around eastern passage grave, from north-west.
Fig. 9. Eastern passage grave from north at close of 2003 season (entrance blocked).
Fig. 10. Southern flank of 100-metre long mound, looking towards south-eastern corner.
Fig. 11. Newly excavated sector of southern flan, showing well-preserved inner kerb.
Fig. 12. Gallo-Roman lime kiln showing mortared stone façade walls with central flue.
Fig. 13. Vitrified stone bar across central trough within lime kiln.
Fig. 14. Aerial view of Gallo-Roman lime kiln.
The Prissé-la-Charrière project is directed by Dr Luc Laporte
(CNRS, Rennes), Dr Roger Joussaume (CNRS, Paris) and Dr Chris Scarre, McDonald
Institute, University of Cambridge). Thanks are due first and foremost to the
landowner, M. Bastard de Cresnay for permission to work at the site, and to
the communes of Prissé-la-Charrière and La Foye Monjault for local
assistance. Financial support has been provided by the Service Régional
de l’Archéologie, the Conseil Général des Deux-Sèvres,
the British Academy and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
The AMS dates quoted here have been provided by the Oxford Radiocarbon Dating
Service with the support of NERC funding, and particular thanks are to due Dr
Tom Higham for his assistance with these. The study of the skeletal remains
is being undertaken by Ludovic Soler. A special debt of gratitude is owed to
Xavier Henaff (2002) and Sébastien Richard (2003) for their supervision
of the domestic arrangements.
