Millennial surprise as Gallo-Roman graveyard unearthed in Paris

Just metres from a busy train station in the heart of Paris, scientists have uncovered 50 graves in an ancient necropolis. The find offers a rare glimpse of life and death in the French capital when it was known as Lutetia, nearly 2000 years ago.

The site of the 2,000-year-old necropolis unearthed on Paris' left bank. © AFP

Somehow the buried necropolis was never stumbled upon during multiple road works over the years, nor during the construction of the Port-Royal RER station in the 1970s.

However, recent plans for a new exit for the station prompted an archaeological excavation.

Camille Colonna, an anthropologist at France's National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), told a press conference that there were already "strong suspicions" the site was close to Lutetia's southern necropolis.

The "Saint Jacques" necropolis – the largest burial site in the Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia – was previously partially excavated in the 1800s.

However, only objects considered precious were taken from the graves, with the many skeletons, burial offerings and other artefacts being abandoned.

The necropolis was then covered over and fotgotten.

La plus grande nécropole gallo-romaine de Lutèce a été en partie découverte rue de l’Observatoire dans le cadre des travaux du RER B. En ce moment même, les archéologues exhument les derniers squelettes de la parcelle.
C’est en plein Paris, et c’est tout à fait exceptionnel. pic.twitter.com/1yp3e5rGTv

— Marine Benoit (@marin_eben) April 18, 2023

The INRAP team discovered one section that had never before been excavated: "No one has seen it since antiquity," said INRAP president Dominique Garcia.

The team was reportedly "very happy" to have found a skeleton with a coin in its mouth, allowing them to date the burial to the 2nd century AD.

The excavation, which began in March, has uncovered 50 graves, all of which were used for burial – not cremation, which was also common at the time.

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The Ferryman of Hades

The remains of the men, women and children are believed to be Parisii – a Gallic tribe who lived in Lutetia  – from when the town on the banks of the Seine river was under the control of the Roman Empire.

The skeletons were buried in wooden coffins, of which only the metal nails remain.

More than half were buried alongside offerings such as ceramic jugs and goblets.

Sometimes a coin was placed in the coffin, or even in the mouth of the dead, a common practice at the time called Charon's obol.

In Greek mythology, Charon is the ferryman of Hades, and the coin was considered a bribe to carry the souls of the dead across the river Styx.

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Mementos and sacrifices

The archaeologists also found shoes inside the graves, identifying them by the small nails that would have been in the soles.

Jewellery, hairpins, belts were also discovered.

The entire skeleton of a pig and another small animal was discovered in a pit where animals were thought to have been sacrificed to the gods.

Unlike the excavation in the 1800s, this time the team plans to remove everything from 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 said.

The ancient history of Paris is "generally not well known," according to INRAP's Garcia, adding that the unearthed graves open "a window into the world of Paris during antiquity."