An archaeological team in France has unearthed a Gallo-Roman necropolis in Saintes, France, in which the remains of a group of adults and a child were found with iron shackles around their wrists, ankles, and/or necks, reports Ancient Origins.net.
Archaeologists are trying to unravel the story of these individuals’ lives, their origin, and the circumstances of their death.
The excavation of the necropolis, located approximately 250m to the west of the amphitheatre of Saintes, was led by the Institut national de recherches archeologiques preventives (INRAP), and was prompted by the need to locate an area for a new burial ground. Saintes was a regional capital during the period of Roman rule in France, and is famous for its Roman colosseum-style arena, which once held up to 18,000 people.
During the dig, which began last year, they discovered hundreds of graves dating back to the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Many of the graves were double burials, containing individuals buried head to tail in rectangular pits, although one grave was found containing five individuals. Strangely, no grave goods were found in any of the burials, except for one grave belonging to a young child, which was buried with seven vases and two coins over his/her eyes.
This was a Roman custom related to the belief that a person’s spirit would leave their body at death and must pay coins to a ferryman that would take them across a river that divided the world of the living and that of the dead.