Stone Age village discovered in France over 5,000 years old
28/08/2023 21:44
For over ten years, researcher Rémi Martineau has been pressing for searches in the Marais de Saint-Gond region, near Épernay. Together with his research team from the University of Bourgogne, he is now discovering a Stone Age village there. For the archaeologist “the last missing piece”.
Archaeologists have discovered a Stone Age village 100 kilometers east of Paris during excavations. According to researcher Rémi Martineau, the settlement in the Marais de Saint-Gond region, near Épernay, dates from 3500 to 3000 BC. “Villages from this period are not known in the northern half of France and Belgium,” he said. Based on the pottery fragments found, the age can be estimated with relative accuracy.
The first archaeological discoveries were made in the area a century ago, Martineau said. “For more than ten years I have been saying: ‘It is absolutely necessary to look for this,’” said the researcher from the University of Bourgogne.
This summer’s result was a positive surprise for Martineau himself. “I had hoped that we would find an agreement in this period, but this agreement is more extraordinary than I imagined.” There is a well and a large fenced area for the protection of people and livestock.
For Martineau, after the previously discovered mines and cemeteries, the settlement is now “the last piece” that was still missing. “And this year we found it,” he said. “This will allow us to work on social organization, economic and territorial organization, the way people functioned among themselves and between different places”.