Merovingian aristocratic burials, excavated at Saint-Dizier in 2002, yielded a very rich collection of funerary grave goods. Today these objects have been restored.

Two men, one aged and one young, a female adolescent, and a horse were buried at this site around the middle of the 6th century.

The two male tombs are funerary chambers (2.8 x 1.6 m) encased on the sides and bottom with oak. Inside, against the north wall, the body of the older man lies dressed in its coffin. Weapons and other personal objects were placed at his sides: sword, axe, scramasax, shield, purse clasp with a cloisonné decoration, ring, belt buckles, knife… The funerary chamber also contained hardware such as a bronze basin, cauldron and bucket, glass bottles and drinking glasses, along with large weapons such as a lance and an ango.

The female adolescent was buried in a coffin placed in a simple pit. However, the abundant jewellery that adorns her, along with the dishware that accompanies her, indicate a high social rank. Two glass recipients are placed at the head of the coffin. At her feet, there is a ceramic and a bronze basin with a pearled rim.
She is wearing a necklace composed of around thirty amber and glass beads and a silver bracelet on her left wrist. Four brooches attach her clothing: at her neck, two disc brooches with a garnet cloisonné decoration, and at her waist, two t-shaped, asymmetrical fibulas. Finally, the fifty or so amber, glass and crystal beads covering the chest of the young woman probably indicate the presence, at the time of her burial, of an embroidered purse or other object.

To the east of the human burials, a rectangular pit contains a horse. The animal is oriented in the same direction as the humans (south-west/north-east), with its head nonetheless to the east. It was buried in a flexed, constrained position. This adult male horse, 8-10 years old, was apparently in good health. It does not seem to have died a violent death or to have been sacrificed. Its first premolars show use traces characteristic of wearing a bit, demonstrating that this was a mounted horse. However, no harnessing equipment was identified in the pit, though a bit was found in one of the male burials. This burial can thus probably be interpreted as the reuniting of a horseman and his mount after death.

The grave goods in these burials are exceptional in terms of the materials used and their craftsmanship. They belong to the elite culture of Franks, who were probably local representatives of Royal power. Indeed, to firmly establish their power, Clovis and his descendants gave newly conquered territories to their relatives or vassals.
Such tombs have been discovered on the margins of Frankish territories (notably in Germany and Switzerland), but in France those discovered and excavated with modern techniques are rare.

This excavation is part of a programme of archaeological operations conducted over the past ten years at the Chêne-Amand activity zone. The archaeological site was on the future route of an interchange joining a ZAC to the national road 4 (southern detour of Saint-Dizier).

Excavation director and metal finds: Marie-Cécile Truc (Inrap)
Physical anthropology: Cécile Paresys (Inrap)
Study of mineral and glass incrustations: Thomas Calligaro (C2RMF)
Glass specialist: Hubert Cabart
Ceramics specialist:: Anne Delors-Ahü and Marion Saurel (Inrap)
Finds restoration: Bruno Bell (Bell-Montembault workshop)
Wood identification: Willy Tegel (Dendronet, Dorfstrasse 59, D 78224 – Germany)
Study of runes: Svante Fischer (University of Uppsala, Sweeden)
Archaeozoology: Jean-Hervé Yvinec (Cravo, Inrap)