Archaeologists excavating the site of future apartment building construction in the center of Nîmes have unearthed a small Celtic burial ground. Dating between the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., burials include three cinerary graves, two ceramic ossuaries and a bone pit. Grave goods of knives and fibulae suggest the deceased were probably men.

The necropolis was a small but deliberately planned space. It runs along a central north-south axis about 130 feet long which was probably a walkway between the graves in antiquity. There’s evidence of an east-west axis about 120 feet long, but it’s not clear if it was an agricultural enclosure or part of the funerary complex. Each grave is rectangular and separated by ditches. The ditches served as the foundation for thick timber and earth walls. Most of the enclosures were disturbed by later construction, but two of the five are intact and adjacent to each other, joined by the short sides of the rectangle.

The location relative to the Iron Age settlement is ambiguous. The necropolis was about a third of a mile from the agglomeration that would become Nîmes, far enough away to make it unclear whether the tombs belonged to residents of the town or of the countryside. What is certain is that after the burials stopped, the necropolis was converted to viticulture. Around 50 vine pits have been discovered, all regularly arranged in the east-west orientation of the shorter ditch. The vine cultivation dates to the early 2nd century B.C., after which the vineyard was replaced by an orchard.

In the Imperial era, a Roman road was built through the necropolis, following the lines of the funerary enclosures. It was just outside the city walls, a few hundred feet from the south gate. The road through the former burial ground would have crossed the main road out of town, the Via Domitia.

Interestingly, while the site appears to have been used for farming in the Middle Ages and there is no evidence that anybody even knew it had ever been a burial ground, but its ancient purpose saw a brief revival in the modern era. The skeletal remains of three individuals were unearthed in the excavation. Archaeologists believe they were likely Protestants, and therefore prohibited from burial in the consecrated ground of a Catholic cemetery. There was a sizeable Protestant population in Nîmes during the 16th and 17th centuries, but its churches (called temples) were either destroyed or repurposed after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

The skeletal remains of a man buried at least 1,300 years ago have been discovered in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is one of the first known intact pre-Hispanic graves in the region found outside of a cave.

The remains were discovered on July 8th during construction of a raised water tank for the community of San Lorenzo de las Bayas. Located in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains, remote San Lorenzo is connected to the nearest city, Ocampo, by a 25-mile dirt road. Significant archaeological sites, including ancient open-air settlements and cave art, have been found there thanks solely to the reports from local residents who are very conscious of their cultural patrimony. This is the first known intact burial found in the area. The workers promptly notified the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) of the find and two days later archaeologists were on site. The team excavated the grave and also supervised the ongoing construction of the reservoir.

The remains were found to be of an adult male between 21 and 35 years old at time of death. He was buried in a seated position with his knees bent. His body had been wrapped in a petate, a bedroll made from palm fibers, which has now disintegrated, but it preserved his bones in their original burial posture. Buried with him was a tripod molcajete, a ceramic mortar with three support legs typical of the Classic Period, ca. 400-700 A.D.  It is by the side of the skeleton now, but was probably originally on top of the grave.

The remains were recovered and transported to the osteological laboratory of the Centro INAH Tamaulipas where they will be cleaned, conserved and studied to narrow down his age, determine if he had any illnesses, his possible cause of death and whether his skull show signs of deliberate cranial deformation. Archaeologists spotted signs of at least two more burials at the site, so INAH plans to explore it further in future digs.

Archaeologists have unearthed a Roman well containing the remains of a column with depictions of Jupiter and three goddesses in a lignite mine in Kerpen, Germany. Columns with figural depictions of this kind from the Roman era are extremely rare in the Rhineland. The well was exposed when the opencast mine pit was 50 feet deep.

The timber-sided well and its fill were discovered in the Hambach mine and archaeologists from the Rhineland Regional Council’s Office for Monument Preservation in the Rhineland (LVR-ABR) called in to excavate it. Inside they found the remains of marble carving of Jupiter seated on a throne. It was heavily damaged with only the throne and lower body of the god extant, but its dimensions indicate the column was around 16 feet high when intact.

A relief at the foot of the column is also believed to depict Jupiter, but it too is damaged enough to make identification tentative. Another relief carved around a cylindrical drum shows three goddesses: Juno, consort of Jupiter, Minerva, goddess of wisdom and an extremely rare depiction of Nemesis-Diana, a composite of the goddess of vengeance and the goddess of the hunt. She is identifiable as such because she wears the short dress of Diana and is accompanied by a wagon wheel, an attribute of Nemesis. There is evidence of the worship of Nemesis-Diana in the Roman Empire, but iconographic representations are scarce. This is the first one ever discovered in the Rhineland.

The remains of Jupiter columns have been found before on Roman villas in Germany. Archaeologists believe they probably adorned the courtyards of wealthy homes. The quality of construction of the well suggests it too was part of luxury estate. Its foundation is composed of large sandstones each weighing several tons. They had to be transported to the site. The cost of moving such large stones would have been exorbitant and affordable only to the elite.

Similar wells found in the area mostly date to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Ceramic fragments found in the backfill of the well indicate that it was in use until the 5th century. It’s hard to say when the Jupiter column parts were deposited in the well. It could have been as early as the 3rd century, perhaps as a result of destruction wrought by Germanic invasions, or the representations of Roman deities might have been damaged and drowned by Christians in late antiquity. Archaeologists hope the well-preserved wood elements of the well will provide an absolute date on its construction.