The graves of the Fontbouisse culture from the Fumerian site in Manduel (Nimes, Gard)
Les sépultures fontbuxiennes en petits hypogées domestiques du site de Fumérian « Zac multi-sites » à Manduel (Nîmes, Gard)
Résumé
The Fumérian site in Manduel, near Nîmes in the Gard department, is a settlement from the late Neolithic (Fontbouïsse culture) with juxtaposed ditches. Diggings of the close surroundings of the ditches revealed twenty four individual graves showing unacquainted architectures for this cultural and domestic context but no grave materials.
The architectures are either simple structures in stone or more elaborated forms such as low walls made of limestone slabs that close sidelong the elongated and adjusted to the deceased grave pits. These divider structures are always between the grave pits and the neighbouring ditches, that is, they are at the end of the pseudo-corridor (or anti-grave pit or anti-chamber) excavated laterally or obliquely from the ditches walls.
The erosion clearly affects this site and some graves must be missing. Nevertheless, while reading the emplacement map of the grave pits we can notice that they form groups, and that six of them can be recognized. The dating seems to indicate long term duration of the site and grave pits. The dating plateaux are stretched and succeed themselves during all the Fontbouisse culture (-2800 to -2300).
However the succession of dating results allows us to observe a progression from the north (enclosure D: grave 2314 and 2677) to the south (enclosure A: grave 2389, 2161 and 1062) of the site. A long-term frequentation between Groups IV and V, facing each other within and outside the ditch of enclosure A, can be considered. We cannot determine if this settlement was thickly populated. However, taking into consideration chronometric data, the deficit of burials is striking as it is generally the case for the Neolithic settlements of the south of France.
Because of the strong erosion, this burial deficit cannot be interpreted. Nevertheless, we can carry out the following remarks: the mise en scène as observed, namely that of the basement, is not ostentatious, and the study of the skeletons betrays average living conditions; in addition the burials concern mainly young adults of both sexes, but not exclusively. Thus we cannot determine a particular strategy concerning the deceased recruitment.
The tombs design, burials agglomerated in small groups, is clearly attached to the ditches, i.e, surely with particular households (without preconceived notion on biological filiations). The designs and architectures evoke somehow an individual hypogeum transferred in a domestic context. They also refer to the megalithic expressions of the dolmens that dominate the hinterland and all the southern edge of the Massif central (flagstone-doors, small standing stone).
These transfers do not strictly regard the sepulchral subject but also take part in a broader symbolic thematic, giving more space to the place and the group rather then the individuals. On this subject, the narrow association between two particular skeletons allows us to propose a semantic link towards a contemporary large megalithic necropolis of the south-east of France (Translation: A.L. Ferraz).