Quelques hypothèses quant à l’usage des matières colorantes rouges dans les sépultures du Néolithique ancien du Bassin parisien

When other element are lacking, the presence of colouring matter concentrations in graves can be considered as a diagnostic criteria. It is so regularly present in Early Neolithic graves, that it is considered as a diagnostic feature for Northern France funerary rituals. However, its presence remains enigmatic and raises several questions. Firstly, the use of the term of « ochre » is problematic, as it only reflects a general assumption, not a definite identification. Indeed, it is attested in about 80 % of LBK graves of the Paris Basin, but the diversity of raw materials used in unknown. The same diversity is observed in BQY/VSG graves, but in different proportions (pigments are present in less than 30 % of the graves), although we usually use the term of powdering and we ignore the exact modalities of its making and use. An important diversity of situations is reported for its use in early Neolithic graves, suggesting that pigments can be used in different ways, some funeral, others not.

About 170 LBK graves are known at present in the Paris Basin. There are no graveyards, but only settlement graves. We retained 108 graves, distributed between 31 sites in the main alluvial valleys, according to the reliability of chronological attributions and the quality of documentation. The geographical and chronological distribution of this sample is representative of the original corpus. Graves localisation is similar during BQY/VSG, but the corpus is more limited : only 45 graves, distributed between 19 sites.

Our purpose here is to understand the presence of colouring matter in graves, that is the modalities of its use, but also its possible functions during burials. Combining the analysis of pigment localizations and the taphonomic analysis of the corpse allows for several hypothesis. At least three different situations are observed in LBK graves. In most cases, colouring matters are associated with the skeleton (57 %). It can also be present on objects, as pearls or ceramics (11 %). Finally, coloured spots in the filling sediment are also observed (11 %). The cases distribution is different in BQY/ VSG graves, where the most frequent situation is the presence of coloured spots (two thirds of graves). In addition, combining the colouring matter distribution and the taphonomic analysis we can suggests the use of different organic objects, such as clothes and soft material envelopes or mats, containers. In fact, colouring matters are sometimes the last trace these various coloured organic objects. Colouring matters are thus present at various moments of the burial, sometimes connected to the preparation and deposit of the body, or to the deposit of funeral objects. The traceologic analysis of coloured grinding tools shows that they were used to work hides, but their use with vegetable fibres is also attested for these periods. The presence or absence of colouring matter in these graves could testify to the use of different materials (animal skins vs vegetable fibers) for objects occurring at various moments of burial, during pre-sepulchral and sepulchral stages.

In this paper we advocate for the development of analytical protocols dedicated to the characterization of colouring matter use in funerary contexts.