Veget Hist Archaeobot (2005) 14:362–372DOI 10.1007/s00334-005-0091-x

O R I G I N A L A R T I C L E

Sidonie Preiss · Veronique Matterne · Frederic Latron

An approach to funerary rituals in the Roman provinces:plant remains from a Gallo-Roman cemetery at Faulquemont(Moselle, France)

Received: 3 October 2004 / Accepted: 27 May 2005 / Published online: 21 July 2005� Springer-Verlag 2005

Abstract Archaeobotanical studies of funerary offeringsallow important insights into beliefs in the afterlife andrituals in the past. Although the number of such investi-gations has increased in recent years, there are still only avery few systematic investigations of Gallo-Roman cre-mation graves, especially in northern France. The ar-chaeobotanical study presented here concerns the ceme-tery (necropolis) of Faulquemont, located in the D�-partement of Moselle. 70 cremation graves, dated fromthe 1st up to the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. havebeen sampled for the study of the botanical remains. Thegraveyard belongs to a rural site. The structures, mainlypits, contained secondary deposits of cremations, char-acterised by ashy fillings, broken archaeological burnedmaterial, bones and carbonised plant remains. 18 plantspecies have been identified including cereals, pulses,tubers and fruits plus bread/pastry. The most importantones were Triticum (hulled wheat), Hordeum (hulledbarley), Lens (lentil) and Pisum (pea). There were alsomore “exotic” finds like Olea (olive), Phoenix (date) andLupinus (lupin). The preservation of the cereals suggestspossible cooking before cremation, or a long exposure tothe fire. Some other plants like hazelnut and olive weremaybe consumed as a component of funerary meals. Inaddition, there were also complete fruits burned as fu-nerary offerings. Only the wealthy deceased receivedluxurious products such as date. Altogether, the spectrum

of Faulquemont fits very well with the known picture ofplant offerings during Gallo-Roman times.

Keywords Archaeobotany · Roman period · NorthernFrance · Gallo-Roman cemetery · Funeral offerings ·Cremations

Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementarymaterial is available for this article at http://dx.10.1007/s00334-005-0091-x

Introduction

Fruits and seeds as well as food products like bread andpastry were an important component of Roman and Gallo-Roman funerary rituals. They could be burned as offer-ings or partly consumed during the funerals or com-memorative ceremonies (Scheid 1998; Bats 2002; Andr�2001). Cremation, widespread at the beginning of theRoman Empire, allows the preservation of organic andcarbonised plant remains.

This botanical study deals with the carbonised seedsand fruit recovered from 70 cremation graves in thecemetery of Faulquemont, located in the Moselle D�-partement, northern France (Fig. 1). It can be related to arural settlement occupied by families who were notsharing the same social position. Up to now, only onefuneral context had been sampled for botanical investi-gations in northern France, as shown in a recent syntheticpaper (Bouby and Marinval 2004). The first aim of thiscontribution is therefore to increase the corpus of datafrom this region.

The rescue excavation was carried out by I.N.R.A.P.,the national institute in charge of the archaeological op-erations in the region. Two parts of one single cemetery(or maybe two distinct cemeteries), “Kelsborn” and “Al-mert”, very close to each other, were excavated in 2001,under the leadership of F. Latron and his archaeologicalstaff. In the first excavation “Kelsborn”, the funerary zoneis divided into two sectors (Fig. 2): a circle of cremations

S. Preiss ())Laboratoire d’Arch�ologie et d’Histoire,Facult� d’Histoire et de G�ographie,Universit� de Picardie Jules Verne -EA 3301,Verne ader, Cravo, 21 rue des Cordeliers,F-60200 Compi�gne, Francee-mail: einodis@yahoo.fr

V. MatterneInrap-Cravo; UMR 7041 ArScAn, Nanterre,21 rue des Cordeliers, F-60200 Compi�gne, France

F. LatronInrap, Base arch�ologique de Strasbourg,10 rue d’Altkirch, F-67100 Strasbourg, France

surrounding a limestone building and a group of ashy pits,also providing human bones. The tombs associated withthe central building contained glass and ceramic urns. Thebuilding sheltered the main burial (SP20), in which aglass urn had been enclosed in a calcareous cylindricalchest called a cist. The second excavation “Almert” wascomposed of three groups of clayey and ashy pits (Fig. 3).The two main groups, on the left and in the middle of thearea, included about ten funerary pits each, whereas thethird group only consisted of two sterile structures.However, the separation of those groups could be con-sidered as artificial, as no framing or any specific form-work has been found. According to the distribution of thetombs in the “two” cemeteries, the excavation “Almert”can be considered as a new sector of the main cemetery“Kelsborn”.

Most of the archaeological features were pits, withgrey and ashy fills or layers. The dimensions of thestructures varied from 0.5 to 1.2 m long. The width did

not exceed 1 m; the pits were 0.1–0.5 m deep. The tombswere not marked by the presence of steles (gravestones)or other artefacts. Only the existence of a large quantity ofcharcoal and burned human as well as animal bones hasled the archaeologist to interpret the contexts as second-ary deposits of cremation residues. Indeed the classifica-tion of tombs in different categories must be underlined asan essential element for thought.

In Gallo-Roman times, two main kinds of burials canbe encountered: on one hand the bustum and on the otherthe ritual pit containing secondary cremation deposits. Inthe first case, the body was burned above the pit andburied in it (Bechert 1980; Andr� 2001). In the case of abustum, there is therefore a good chance of discovering agreat part of the buried material, including fruits andseeds, if the pyre had not been totally consumed by thefire. In the second case, however, ashes and other remainsare recovered from a place, named ustrinum, where all thecremations were performed. The remains of the crematedbodies, including the offerings, were placed in urns or pitsafter cremation. In case of an ustrinum and secondarydeposits, therefore, a selection had occurred before theburial. In the material, primary and secondary depositswere mixed together, which might have been laid downduring the commemorative feasts (Kreuz 2000).

In the Faulquemont cemetery, no bustum has beenfound. In some of the pits, there were no bones, so that thedeposit was probably only composed of residues of or-ganic materials and offerings. In addition, in neither of thesites has evidence of a funeral pyre (ustrinum) been no-ticed. The cremations of the bodies must have been per-formed at another place which was not excavated.

The ceramics found in the pits date the use of theKelsborn site from the end of the 1st up to the middle ofthe 2nd century A.D. The Almert sector is somewhatmore recent; the site is dated to the middle of the 2nd upto the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. At this time, the

Fig. 1 Location of the sites in Europe. From Microsoft Encarta 99

Fig. 2 Map of the Kelsborncemetery. Scale unit =10 m.Source: F. Latron, Inrap,D.A.O. S. Bourel

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anthropological, archaeozoological and archaeologicalstudies are still in progress so that the potential resultsabout age, sex and status of the dead persons are not yetcompletely available.

Besides increasing the available data on funeral of-ferings in northern France, a further aim of the study wasto reconstruct the proportion of plant products offered.The composition of the samples and the preservation ofthe plant material (mainly the degree of carbonisation)should give hints on the events that took place before andduring the cremation. Even if the different steps of theritual are described in ancient texts, the investigation ofthe remains is still necessary to trace the personal orcommunity attitudes towards death, especially in regionswithout written sources. In addition, the association be-tween plant remains and archaeological artefacts wasanalysed to obtain information about differences betweenthe deceased in terms of age, sex and status. For example,was it usual to offer “luxurious” products like date, or wasordinary food such as bread and cereals normally de-posited in graves? A further aim of the study was to es-tablish if the “Almert” part of the cemetery could beconsidered as a part of the main “Kelsborn” cemetery.

Materials and methods

The plant remains were recovered from the ashy fills of pits. Theywere mixed with cremated human and animal bones and personalobjects of the deceased. The sampling was performed in the fol-lowing way: in Kelsborn, the analyses were made on half of the fillof each of the pits (for sample volumes see ESM, Table 6), andoccasionally on ten litres from the additional spreading material.The sixth part of the complete fill was taken from each pit inAlmert (for sample volumes see ESM Table 7). Furthermore, someplant remains were directly sampled by hand as they were visible tothe naked eye.

The sieving was done using a mesh size of 0.5 mm. The residuewas entirely sorted under a binocular microscope using a magni-fication of 15x. The identification was performed with the help ofBeijerinck (1947), Jauzein (1995) and the fresh and archaeologicalseeds collection from the C.R.A.V.O. (5000 species). The nomen-clature of Latin/scientific plant names follows the flora fromLambinon et al. (2004) and the Kergu�len index (1998).

The factorial correspondance analysis (FCA) has been per-formed with the help of the XL Stat program (Excel).

Results

55 samples from Kelsborn and 24 structures from Almerthave been studied, of which 50 and 20 contexts respec-tively provided plant remains. Only carbonised plantmaterial was found. Different types of archaeological

Fig. 3 Map of the Almertcemetery. Scale unit =10 m.Source: F. Latron, Inrap,D.A.O. S. Bourel

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materials were associated with the fruits and other offeredplant fragments: charcoal, anthropological and archaeo-zoological remains (the latter were more frequent thanhuman remains), burned ceramic shards, textile frag-ments, white and coloured glass fragments (green andblue), nails and metal artefacts, including precious metalssuch as copper, gold and alloy partly composed of gold(see Table 1; for details see ESM Table 5). In some of thestructures, such things were particularly numerous. Onlythree pits provided gold (St. 01; 08 and 20; Fig. 4).

In total, 7291 specimen of plant offerings could beidentified from Kelsborn and 1801 from Almert, repre-senting most probably only a small fraction of the original

plant offerings (for detailed results see ESM Tables 6, 7).About 20 plant species were found. These consisted ofcereals, pulses and fruits, bread and stem tubers probablyof Arrhenatherum elatius ssp. bulbosum (oat-grass);rarely, weeds were associated (Tables 2, 3). Small frag-ments of unidentified fruit flesh were encountered even instructures where whole/identifiable fruits were not found.

The state of preservation of the offered plant remainsvaried, not only from one sample to the other, but alsowithin the same sample from one type of plant remain tothe other. Strong differences were obvious in the degreeof carbonisation. Cereal grains were systematically badlypreserved. Only their shape remained, riddled with holes;fragmentation however was rather low (Fig. 5). Pulseswere better preserved, even if the testa was lacking.However, there were other traces of deterioration or poorquality: the seeds of the Lens culinaris (lentil) were verysmall. Vicia faba var. minor (broad bean) was occasion-ally infested by an insect, Bruchus rufimanus, a wellknown storage pest which lays its eggs in the beans. Incontrast, fruits and tubers were exceptionally well pre-served, even fleshy fruit such as grape was carbonised in afresh-looking state so that the epidermis was smooth andthe cell structure was still visible.

Plant offerings were regularly present in the graves.Cereals and pulses were found in most of the structures(Tables 2, 3, frequencies). Hordeum vulgare (barley) wasmuch more frequent in the Kelsborn sector, where itrepresented the most common species together withTriticum dicoccum/spelta (hulled wheats) and unidenti-fied cereals. In contrast, in the Almert sector barley ap-peared only in two pits (see Tables 2, 3). In contrast tocereals, some other crops like Avena sp. (oat), Pisumsativum (pea), Lupinus luteus/albus (lupin), Phoenix

Table 1 Archaeological material associated with botanical contentin the structures from the sector Almert. St. Structure; S.U.Stratigraphic Unity; – absent; x between 1 and 5 fragments; xxbetween 5 and 10 fragments; xxx 10 fragments and more; w whiteglass; col coloured glass, Fe iron; Cu copper; Au gold. Each

sample comes from the lower layer of the pits and was composed ofclayey and ashy sediment. Only the frequency (proportion of thetotal identified plant remains), for each structure, in fruits/nuts andluxury fruits is indicated here. See text and ESM Tables for furtherdetails

Structures S.U Charcoal Burnedbones

Ceramic Glass Metals Preciousmetals

Textile Fruits/nuts (%)

Luxuryfruits (%)

01 1033 xx x xxx w, col Fe Au x 76 702 1016 xx x xx w Fe – – 85 003 1023 xxx x x w Fe – xx 65 004 1018 x x xx w Fe – – 0 005 1046 xx xx x w Fe – – 0 006 1027 x xxx x w Fe – – 40 007 1014 x – x – – – – 0 008 1025 xx x x w, col Fe, Cu Au xxx 59 209 1030 xx x xx – Fe – x 0 010 1035 x x x – Fe – – 0 011 1057 x x x – – – – 0 012 1050 x xxx xxx – Fe – – 0 014 1038 xx xx xx w Fe – x 52 015 1040 x xx xx w, col Fe – x 30 017 1051 x xxx x – Fe – x 0 018 1024 xx xxx x w, col Fe – xxx 15 020 1034 xx xx xxx – Fe Au – 53 021 1048 xx xxx xx – Fe – – 0 022 1056 xxx xx x – Fe – – 66.5 024 1054 xx x x w Fe – – 0 0

Fig. 4 Gold filaments. Scale unit in mm. Source: S. Preiss

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dactylifera (date), Olea europaea (olive) and Prunusdomestica s.l. (plum) were quite rare and appeared in onlyone or two structures (Tables 2, 3).

The number of wild species was very small (Tables 2,3), and most of them are weeds or of other synanthropicorigin. In total, they were present in 24 structures.

Among the material we should emphasize is thepresence of tubers and stems of Arrhenatherum elatiusssp. bulbosum (onion couch) in 21 structures, and in anexcellent state of preservation (Fig. 6). The cell patternwas still obvious on the surface of the tubers. Stemfragments have been recovered in 13 structures and tubersin 15, in greater quantity especially in structures 15 and20 (Almert) where 13 and 40 specimens have been found.Each plant can bear 2–6 tubers.

There are some distinct differences in the frequencies(proportion of the total of identified plant remains) be-tween the two sectors excavated (Table 4). In Kelsborn,cereals represent the highest frequency with 91.98%. Incontrast, at Almert the predominant categories of plantremains are fruits (53.92%) and pulses (22.24%). Thespecies diversity follows this tendency with five fruits andfive pulses identified in Almert and three for each cate-gory in Kelsborn (Tables 2, 3). The species causing the

differences are hulled barley and hulled wheat, the mostfrequent plant remains in the Kelsborn sector with 17.2%and 43.48% of the total number of seeds respectively(Table 2). Hazelnut with 20.88% and Fabaceae, especiallyVicia faba var. minor (13.38%) also play a major role inthe Almert sector (Tables 2, 4).

In order to see relevant structures in the dataset weperformed a factorial correspondence analysis (FCA)(Fig. 7). Three groups can be distinguished. Each iscomposed of samples from the Kelsborn and the Almertsectors of the cemetery. Therefore, the two sectors cannotbe clearly separated. The variables which cause this dis-tribution are Hordeum vulgare on the F3 axis and pulseson the F2 axis. These taxa contribute the highest per-centages to the definition of the axis (see ESM Table 8).

Table 2 Charred plant remains presence data for 50 samples fromburnt deposits in the Kelsborn sector of the Faulquemont cemetery.Nomenclature after Lambinon et al (2004) and after Kergu�len(1998) for Mediterranean taxa. The total number of remains in-cludes entire parts and fragments. Cerealia: when no remain type isindicated, grains are meant

Taxa(sector Kelsborn)

Presence(numberof sampleswhere present,n=50)

Frequency(percentageof total plantremains identified;7291=100%)

CerealsHordeum vulgare 23 17.20Triticum dicoccum/spelta 18 43.48Triticum dicoccum/spelta(furca)

1 0.01

Triticum cf. monococcum 2 0.03Triticum sp 5 7.74Cerealia 29 23.51Chaff 1 0.01Pulses (seed)Lens culinaris 7 0.37Lupinus luteus/albus 1 0.01Pisum sativum 2 0.16Fruits/nutsCorylus avellana 14 1.95Olea europaea (stone) 9 0.33Olea europaea (flesh) 1 0.01Vitis vinifera ssp.vinifera/sylvestris (grape)

2 0.03

Unidentified fruit flesh 4 0.22WeedsPoa sp 1 0.01Vicia hirsuta/tetrasperma 3 0.12Arrhenatherum elatius ssp. bulbosum(tuber) 10 0.32(stem) 5 0.40FoodstuffBread/pastry 16 4.09

Table 3 Charred plant remains presence data for 20 structures fromburnt deposits in the Almert sector of the Faulquemont cemetery.Nomenclature after Lambinon et al (2004) and after Kergu�len(1998) for Mediterranean taxa. The total number of remains in-cludes entire parts and fragments

Taxa (sector Almert) Presence(number ofstructureswhere present,n=20)

Frequency(percentageof total plantremainsidentified;1801=100%)

Cereals (grain)Avena sp 1 0.06Hordeum vulgare 2 0.17Triticum dicoccum/spelta 4 2.44Triticum sp 5 0.39Cerealia 14 9.77Pulses (seed)Lens culinaris 7 1.05Lupinus luteus/albus 1 0.28Vicia ervilia 3 0.17Vicia faba var. minor 7 7.05Vicia sp 1 0.06Fabaceae 11 13.38Fruits/nutsCorylus avellana 5 20.88Olea europaea (stone) 2 1.11Phoenix dactylifera (stone) 1 0.44Phoenix dactylifera (flesh) 1 0.06Prunus domestica 1 0.11Vitis vinifera ssp.vinifera/sylvestris (pip)

6 6.00

Vitis vinifera ssp.vinifera/sylvestris (grape)

5 4.28

Vitis vinifera ssp.vinifera/sylvestris (pedicel)

2 0.11

Unidentified fruit stone 1 0.22Unidentified fruit flesh 9 20.71WeedsFallopia convolvulus 1 0.06Veronica hederifolia 3 0.17Vicia hirsuta/tetrasperma 1 0.67Brassica sp 1 0.11Arrhenatherum elatiusssp. bulbosum(tuber) 5 3.11(stem) 8 2.78FoodstuffBread/pastry 6 4.50

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The first group of nine samples in the negative part ofthe graph comprises samples which contained essentiallycereals but no pulses at all. In the opposite part of the F2

axis, 11 samples are grouped together, which are richer inCorylus avellana and Lens culinaris. The third group inthe positive part of the graph comprises most of thesamples, the Kelborn and Almert sectors mixed up, withmostly several plant taxa present in the samples.

Discussion

Our knowledge of Roman religion and rituals is essen-tially based on the ancient literature dealing mainly withpractices in the Roman motherland (see in Scheid 1998).The survival of the body was not a part of the Romanbeliefs. There was no place for a viaticum and the offer-ings of food were not supposed to feed the dead person.The aim of the rituals was to transform the corpse of thedeceased and to purify the family. After this time, thedead person became a member of the Manes community,an ancestor of the family (Scheid 1998). On the first dayof the funerals, offerings like perfumes, oil, bread, pastry,fruit, bunches of grapes and clothes were put on the pyre,during the cremation of the body. A meal was shared bythe family members nearby the tomb (Scheid 1998, 2002;Bats 2002). Nine days later, a banquet was organised, asthe status of the dead person had definitively changed. InFebruary, on the Feralia festival, the same rituals werecelebrated and the memory of the ancestor was com-memorated.

The texts give no precise information about the mag-ical and superstitious implications of those rituals in theminds of the living community, but in a general way, thedeposit and consequently the archaeological evidencecould be interpreted in two ways (Bats 2002). Firstly, theofferings certify that the rituals have been correctlypractised and that living people as well as dead peopleand Gods received their right part of it. Secondly, theofferings were made in honour of the dead people, as anultimate testimony of the family’s tribute to their mem-ory.

The probability for plant remains to become car-bonised during the Roman funerary rituals and to survivein the archaeological context is not rare (see referencesbelow). Therefore, with the help of archaeobotanical in-vestigations it is possible to reconstruct some of the fu-neral rituals in parts of the Roman Empire from where nowritten evidence is available. One of the importantquestions posed by the material from Faulquemont wastherefore to know if the fruits, seeds and bread were theresidues of funeral meals and whether part of them could

Fig. 5 Carbonised cereals. Scale unit in mm. Source: S. Preiss

Fig. 6 Tubers and stem fragments of Arrhenatherum elatius ssp.Bulbosum (onion couch). Scale unit in mm. Source: S. Preiss

Table 4 Frequency of plant remains in the sectors of Kelsborn and Almert compared with one another

Taxa Frequency (Percentage of total plantremains identified; 7291=100%) Kelsborn

Frequency (Percentage of total plantremains identified; 1801=100%) Almert

Cereals (grain) 91.98 13.37Pulses (seed) 0.54 22.24Fruits/nuts 3.53 53.92Weeds 0.85 6.90Foodstuff 4.09 4.50

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have been consumed during the funerary ritual. The dif-ferences in preservation cannot be related just to the in-dividual durability of the botanical components. There-fore it seems very probable that some of the finds go backto ritual meals, whereas others were offered whole.

Concerning the cereal grains, the carbonisation processonly partly gives an explanation for their fragmentationand their bad preservation. This could also be due to apreceding cooking. The same causes are most probablyalso responsible for the separation of the pulses into twocotyledons. The fragmentation of the nut shells (Fig. 8) inthe Faulquemont carbonised material is too systematic tobe attributed to the fire only. The size of the fragments

varied from 1.5 to 12 mm. Indeed, not a single completefruit or seed has been found. Massive and anarchic frag-mentation of such a hard material like hazelnut shell isclearly the result of a human act (Dietsch 2000, pp 108–112) because it requires a violent action such as trampling.Olive is represented only by stones or stone fragments(Fig. 9). A unique complete fruit was found, the othersmust have been consumed before burning. In contrast, thedates were probably offered as complete fruits, becausefragments of flesh (Fig. 10) as well as stones (Fig. 11)have been recovered. The same holds for grapes, of whichseveral were so well preserved that the mark of the pedicelwas still visible on the skin. From its general appearance,the grape seems to have been carbonised as fresh fruit butalso, in a few cases, as raisins (Fig. 12). Some fruit wererounded and fleshy while others were completely crum-pled and shrivelled. However, as experiments have shown(S. Jacomet pers. comm.), raisins can also become

Fig. 7 Factorial correspon-dence analysis (FCA) graphshowing the distribution of thebotanical samples from the twosectors of the Faulquemontcemeteries. Square symbol =Almert; diamond-shape symbol= Kelsborn. Source: S. Preissand V. Matterne

Fig. 8 Carbonised hazelnut shell fragments. Scale unit in mm.Source: S. Preiss

Fig. 9 Carbonised olive stones. Scale unit in mm. Source: S. Preiss

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rounded and fleshy again when carbonised. Some de-tached pedicels suggest that bunches of grapes may havebeen offered. Grape pips were also abundant, sometimesincorporated into the flesh, sometimes not; maybe somegrapes were eaten before burning. In our material, themorphology of the pips did not allow the identification ofthe type of grape (wild or cultivated); however, the latter isvery probable. Two domestic plums from Structure 14(Almert) were in exceptionally good condition, as shownby the smooth surface, the dimensions and the absence ofskin breakage (Fig. 13). These fruits were obviously of-fered as whole fruits. Bread or pastry were present in 23structures; the size of the fragments was less than 3.5 cm.It seems probable that these remains also represent parts offuneral meals.

To sum up, three categories of plant offerings can bedistinguished: inedible plant parts, leftovers of partlyconsumed plants and burned whole fruits. We can prob-ably classify these remains into two groups: the offeringsmade on the pyre and the remnants of funeral meals.According to the different levels of carbonisation, all theofferings were not put on the pyre at the same moment.

Another question which has to be discussed is thevalue of the different offerings. The plant species origi-

nated in different regions and their cost value could havebeen extremely variable. Most of the edible plants foundin the graves such as barley, wheat, lentil, broad bean,hazelnut, grape and plum were commonly eaten, as manyfinds from contemporary settlement contexts show (seeK�nig 2003, Matterne unpublished). Most of them werealso surely locally grown, however, for grape this is un-certain. Viticulture in the Roman period in the region ofthe Moselle, Germany, at least in late Roman times (4thcentury A.D.), is shown by sites where thousands of grapepips have been found, and archaeological evidence forwine presses (K�nig 1989, 2003; Brun and Gilles 2001;K�hnen 2003). Nevertheless, the mentioned foodstuffs arethe most abundant ones found at the cemetery. Altogether,these are also the plant remains commonly found in tombsor cemeteries in northwestern and central Europe in-cluding France (compilations of Petrucci-Bavaud andJacomet 1997; K�nig 1995; Petrucci-Bavaud et al. 2000;

Fig. 10 Carbonised date flesh (ventral and dorsal view). Scale unitin mm. Source: S. Preiss

Fig. 11 Carbonised date stone (archaeological specimen on theleft) compared to a modern one. Scale unit in mm. Source: S. Preiss

Fig. 12 Carbonised grape and raisin (lower left). Scale unit in mm.Source: S. Preiss

Fig. 13 Carbonised plum. Scale unit in mm. Source: S. Preiss

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Kreuz 2000; Jacomet and Schibler 2001; Robinson 2002;Zach 2002; Bakels and Jacomet 2003; Marinval 1990,1993; Pradat 1994).

Other plants, like date, olive, fig and stone pine kernelsare not so commonly found in Gallo-Roman graves (seecitations above). The latter two were not found atFaulquemont, whereas the presence of dates and olives isremarkable for northern France. Olive and date representimported fruits and can therefore be considered as luxuryproducts (Bakels and Jacomet 2003). The find of a singlespecimen of date is probably linked to the high value,both symbolic and financial, of that fruit. However, therelationship between the plant offerings and the socialstatus of the deceased cannot easily be established(Petrucci-Bavaud et al. 2000). Nevertheless, we noticedthat in the structures in which there were date and olive,abundant archaeological finds and valuable metal such asgold were also found.

The dates most probably represent commercial goodsoriginating from North Africa. Some trade routes for thiskind of product have been studied, for example betweenthe Roman harbour of Berenike in Egypt and Gaul(Cappers 1999). Olives may have come from southernFrance, and palynologists as well as palaeoethnobotanistsagree that the beginning of olive cultivation reached theregion of Provence, southern France, in the 3rd centuryB.C. and spread in southern Gaul during the 1st centuryB.C. The cultivation of olive trees on a large scale isclearly documented in the Roman period (Laval et al.1990; Leveau et al. 1991; Liphschitz et al. 1990). Evenduring the second century, according to Bakels and Ja-comet (2003), date and olive were still considered luxuryfood products in northern provinces and their presencewas limited to military camps, cities, vici and opulentvillae rusticae.

A recent paper by Bouby and Marinval (2004) dealswith the variability of the funeral offerings in Gallo-Ro-man contexts, according to the regional distribution of thesites in France. Considering the conclusions of the au-thors, the cemetery of Faulquemont, although located inanother region, could be associated, from the compositionpoint of view, with the group of sites directly influencedby Romanisation, located on a Mediterranean-Rhone-Rhine axis. This category includes tombs and cemeterieswith ordinary foodstuffs (cereals and pulses) but alsoexotic fruits and seeds, usually cultivated in the Romansphere like olive, date, lupin and grape. The regions lo-cated on this axis were strongly and rapidly influenced byRoman habits, due to the great number of military campsestablished in this geographic zone (Bouby and Marinval2004). The results from Faulquemont show that this sit-uation should also be envisaged maybe for other regions.

Of the species which in general are not common of-ferings in Roman cremations above all Lupinus luteus/al-bus (lupin) has to be mentioned (Fig. 14). The presence ofthis pulse in the cemetery of Kelsborn, as well in Almert isremarkable. In the Almert cemetery, lupin is associatedwith tombs with abundant finds (Structure 18). Severalpulse species like broad bean, Lupinus luteus/albus (lupin)

or Vicia ervilia (bitter vetch) are considered by the ancientauthors to have been a food for the poorest part of thepopulation, and the last two were even used as fodder (inHorace, Sat.2, 6, 63–64; Plinius, 18, 22, 101, 153; Galien,VI, 551; Diocletian ed. 1, 19, lupini crudi; 1, 20, lupinicocti; CIL. IV, 3423, lupinarius; 3483, lupinopolus; after J.Andr� 1981, 35–41). We observe therefore a contradictionbetween the status of the lupin according to the texts andthe situation in Faulquemont which cannot be interpreted,considering the current state of research.

Other remarkable finds in Faulquemont are tubers ofArrhenatherum elatius ssp. bulbosum (onion couch).Across western Europe, this kind of find is regularlymentioned in funerary contexts. Several discoveries arereported from Iron Age contexts in Denmark (Hjelmqvist1955, 1982; Engelmark 1984; Robinson 1992, 1994) andin Sweden (Engelmark 1984). In the Netherlands, Bakelshas found this type of material in a cremation area linkedto a Roman cemetery, dating to the 2nd century A.D., onthe excavation of Cuijk-Grotestraat/ Bezinkbassin (Bakelsunpubl.). In France, we can quote the find of Arrhen-atherum tubers in a Bronze Age/Hallstatt Period crema-tion located at the Camp d’Alba, R�alville, in the D�-partement of Tarn et Garonne (Pradat 1997). Tubers havealso been found at Loz�re, on the site of Javols, dating tothe 1st century A.D. (Marinval unpubl.; Matterne un-publ.).

The question arises if this grass was a component ofthe wild vegetation growing in the surroundings of theustrinum or not. The plant is usually encountered inmeadows, fallow land and in the vicinity of roads(Lambinon et al. 2004). However, the relative frequencyof Arrhenatherum tubers in funerary contexts, the factthat this wild species is mixed with other edible resources,the high proportion of the remains in certain structureslead us to the conviction that the presence of the plant isnot accidental but due to deliberate action. The plant wasmost probably gathered for its edible properties. Tubersare rich in starch, a reason why they have been collected

Fig. 14 Carbonised lupin seeds. Scale unit in mm. Source: S. Preiss

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in ancient times (Helbæk 1951) at least in Scandinavia(Engelmark 1984).

The presence of most of the plant remains found in thegraves in Faulquemont certainly results from human ac-tion. In contrast, the weeds seem to be the result of in-voluntary and probably unconscious circumstances (seealso Petrucci-Bavaud et al. 2000). Those wild speciesappear in small numbers in five structures. Fallopiaconvolvulus, Vicia hirsuta/tetrasperma and Veronicahederifolia belong to the wild flora of cultivated fields.These remains could have been brought to the tombsamong the cereals or the fuel intended for the lighting ofthe pyre. Another possibility would be that they grew inthe vicinity of the site.

Some of the structures were rather poor in botanicalremains, whereas some others presented a more diversi-fied spectrum (Fig. 15). The basic consumer goods likecereals and pulses are frequently represented by smallheaps, unlike the date, olive and plum which are scarceand associated with rich structures. The family generositywas probably influenced by the cost value or the symbolicvalue of the products; a bigger offering in the cremationdeposit was unnecessary.

If one looks at the overall composition of the graves inthe two sectors of Almert and Kelsborn there seem to bemarked differences (Table 4). However, this result is dueto the fact that some pits have very peculiar assemblages.Indeed, the FCA results (Fig. 7) show that the major partof the structures (50 on 70) fit together as a whole.Therefore most probably all the graves belong to a singlecemetery, but with some individual characteristics insome parts. Perhaps some differences are due to chrono-logical developments but this can be traced only when thearchaeological material is evaluated in detail.

Conclusion

In archaeology, it is very difficult to reconstruct theknowledge of the personal attitude, beliefs, superstitions

and individual behaviour with regard to death. However,the analysis of the plant remains from cremations allowsus to formulate some ideas about several aspects of therituals during Gallo-Roman times. With the thoroughanalyses of the plant remains from the cemetery ofFaulquemont, Moselle, it could be shown that the cerealsand pulses were exposed longer to the fire than the fruitsand tubers were. A part of the material can be interpretedas residues of funeral meals where the fruits were partlyconsumed (this is the case for olive, hazelnut and bread).The major part of the plant remains consisted however ofwhole fruits, carbonised as funerary offerings on the pyre(for example plum, grape, date).

It seems difficult to establish a relationship betweenthe composition of the plant offerings and the status of thefamily’s deceased. However, fruits with a high cost valuelike olive and date were associated with the tomb whichcontained rich archaeological material, including gold andprecious glass and ceramic objects. Therefore we canconclude that people of various social status were buriedin the cemetery.

In comparison with other botanical studies carried outin funeral contexts, and with reference to the ancientwritten sources, it is obvious that the ritual was strictlyobserved. The rules were quite clear and were recognisedas a guarantee of a harmonious passage from life to death.Variations in the choice of the products were tolerated,according to local and individual sensitivities, withoutdenying the value of the ritual itself.

Acknowledgements We would like to thank people who providedus information or documents related to this paper, A. Kreuz, B.Zach, M. K�nig, C. Bakels, J. Wiethold, W. Kuijper, D.E. Robin-son, F. Latron and also M. Le Malliaud who improved the Englishversion of the manuscript. We are also grateful to S. Jacomet forhelping us with her useful remarks to improve the quality of thispaper. In the same way, we are grateful to “la R�gion Picardie” and“le fonds social europ�en” for supporting Sidonie Preiss in herdoctoral thesis work

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