The locations of the necropolises

The Ripottes Necropolis

The Ripottes Necropolis stretches across the outer wall and probably along the edge of the ditch which runs along the embankment at the northern end of the oppidum. The punctilious excavations which took place there in 1966 and 1967 unearthed nine graves of cremated individuals and two burials of newborns. This is the earliest of the cemeteries having been in use during the years 30 - 40 AD.

The Pommeurs necropolis

The Pommeurs necropolis was the object of an urgent rescue operation in 1994; the Pommeurs housing estate is located some 500 metres to the north-west of the oppidum. Ten graves (burials and cremations) have been identified. This cemetery, whose beginnings remain unknown, can be dated to the second half of the 2nd century and the beginning of the 3rd.

The Champ de l'Image necropolis

One hundred and forty grave have been discovered here, of which one hundred and twelve were cremations. One of the main points of interest in this site has been to ascertain that it was enclosed by a wall topped with tiles.

An alley with a packed earth surface, lined by a border of stones, parallel to this enclosing wall divides the cemetery into two unequal parts. The first forms a narrow strip between the alley and the wall. The second occupies the centre of the area with the pyre and the piles of ashes accumulated from the cremations. This cemetery was used from the middle of the 1st century AD to around the beginning of the 3rd.

The Saint-Etienne necropolis

The Saint-Etienne necropolis is at the edge of the river Creuse near to the Roman bridge and the road leading to Limoges. On several occasions during different 19th century urban developments, coffins, sarcophagi, burials, coins from the reign of the emperor Gallienus and ancient pottery have all been found there. This could be the latest of all the town's cemeteries perhaps dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries.

Cremations

Cremations were the preferred form of disposal in the 2nd century. Several methods were employed for the burial of the charred remains. A few handfuls of ashes might simply be scattered on the earth accompanied by a few shards of pottery. The most frequent method was to put the remains into an urn or other vase closed with a plate. Sometimes, more rarely, the urn was placed inside a vase of larger dimensions.

A trench, filled with ashes and pieces of burnt pottery from the pyre, could also receive the urn.

It was often the case that for glass urns, a cylindrical or cubic limestone coffer would protect the sepulture.

It has been remarked that this last practice wasn't very widespread in Argentomagus, in contrast to what we see in the southern regions of the Biturige lands.

Interments

The low number of objects in the tombs - just two on average - and the absence of large stelae and fine pottery betrays the ordinariness of the population. Probably they were small businessmen and craftsmen. Two other practices have been observed at Argentomagus: the use of nails and the intentional breaking of pottery.

Certain small nails obviously come from the shoes of the dead and demonstrate they were wearing sandals at the moment of cremation. Others, much longer, discovered in a more dispersed fashion, could have originated in the litter lain on the pyre or a wooden coffer or even a coffin for interments. Several pitchers have deliberately had their tops broken off to transform them into urns. These intentional breaks are sometimes found on three-legged bowls which archaeologists have discovered deprived of one or more of their legs.

Often in the centre of France, and particularly in Argentomagus, these voluntary breakages, as well as the singular use of long nails, could perhaps indicate certain indigenous customs which survived throughout the entire length of the High Empire.