Medieval Burgundian necropolis with decorations found in France

In the southeast of France, during excavations of the ancient Roman city of Bute, archaeologists discovered a necropolis of the 5th-7th centuries … It turned out that the cemetery belonged to a tribe of Germanic barbarians – the Burgundians, who took an active part in the Great Migration of Nations.

According to The history blog, scientists examined 227 graves, which is only a part of the total number of burials at this place. Burials testify to a different social status. In some men and women are buried in coffins hollowed out of tree trunks, while in others they have slabs of sandstone. Even furniture and the remains of expensive clothing were found in 30 graves.

“Most of the items are jewelry or personal items. There are a dozen ornamented bone combs, glass beads on necklaces and chatelains, buckles for belts and shoes, a three-piece toiletry set, a silver gilded bird of prey brooch with a pomegranate eye, and a set fibulae in the form of galloping horses. An arrowhead and a scramasax dagger with a fragment of a wooden scabbard were also found.

Radiocarbon dating and analysis of artifacts date the necropolis between the second half of the 5th century and the second half of the 7th century. Finds indicate that after the founding of the First Burgundian Kingdom, a stable population of the Burgundian tribe lived in the city of Bute.

Reference “RG”

The Roman settlement of Bute was founded in 27 BC near the main city of the Allobrog tribe. During Roman times, located at the intersection of three main Roman roads and on the Alpis Graia, the route leading to the Petit-Saint-Bernard alpine pass, the city flourished. In the middle of the 3rd century Bute was destroyed by the Germanic barbarians, and in the 5th century it was captured by the Burgundians.