The Late Antiquity Burials of Verdier Nord, Lunel-Viel, Hérault, France: Graves on the Outskirts of the Necropolis

The township of Lunel-Viel, in southern France, has been the focus of many archaeological investigations during the last 35 years. In the 1980s, Claude Raynaud’s works led to the unearthing of a large necropolis that was active between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD. In 2014, a rescue archaeology operation took place on the outskirts of the nearby necropolis and highlighted two principal modes of occupation throughout Roman times: a vineyard from the Early Empire and rural exploitation during the Late Empire period. The rural development intensified during Late Antiquity and became organised into well-delimited units of occupation. Within this last phase of exploitation, 19 burials were discovered. The majority of these tombs shared the common characteristic of being located near a ditch-like structure, and some were positioned in a strategic layout, i.e. in the angles or at the ends of ditches. They all harboured the remains of young children, post-neonatal or perinatal individuals. The funerary architecture was variable but always neat. The seemingly particular status of these immature funerary deposits is intriguing given their location – outside the nearby and contemporary necropolis – where people of the same age were interred. The paper will describe these recent discoveries from a perspective that integrates the burial evidence from the margins of the contemporary necropolis with that of the agricultural area