• 1 The term "ossuary" is used in this article in its broad archaeological sense, to mean "a structure (...)

1The use of a cemetery over a long period of time usually leads to its overload and to overlapping graves. Bone remains can then be collected and grouped in one place, the ossuary1. Although essential to cemetery space management, these structures are rarely the subject of in-depth studies, in particularly for the medieval period. This paper contributes to filling this gap and exemplifies the importance of such studies.

• 2 Blamangin, Clerget, Debs et al. 2019.

2The ossuary pit studied was uncovered during an archaeological excavation carried out in 2012 in the crypt of the Notre-Dame Basilica in Boulogne-sur-Mer and its immediate surroundings2. It was located in the vault of the church rebuilt in the 19th century, in an area that was situated, in medieval times, at the exterior of the building, within consecrated space of the parish cemetery. More precisely, the excavation is located in a very narrow space, wedged between the south transept of the sanctuary and a lateral chapel of the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th century (fig. 5).

• 3 Respective ages of 594 ± 30 BP (RICH-22080) and 610 ± 27 BP (RICH-22804). Dating carried out by a t (...)

5The date of creation of the ossuary, between 1290 and 1410, can be established with a relative precision thanks to carbon dating that was carried out on one of the juvenile subjects deposited at the bottom of the pit and on an adult buried within the structure3. It is in accordance with the stratigraphic observations.

• 4 Blaizot 1996; Richier 2016.

6The four layers of bone present more or less the same characteristics and do not show any evolution in the selection of individuals. Everything indicates that the transfer to the ossuary concerned mostly dry bones. This notably translates by a greater representation of the largest bones (fig. 11). The small bones (hands, feet and thorax) are poorly represented, as is commonly observed in secondary deposits4. In each level, the bones deposited belong to both adult and juvenile subjects and, among the latter, all age classes are represented.

• 5 For exemple Roms, Kuchler 2011, p. 566; Blanchard, Kacki, Rouquet et al. 2015; Richier 2016, p. 269

7The minimum number of individuals (MNI), calculated by combining the frequency MNI for adult subjects and the exclusion MNI for juveniles, is 87, all layers combined. If we consider that each layer of bones corresponds to a different collection phase, it is 109 individuals. Four areas of connected body parts – mainly the pelvic area – were identified in the bone pile, implying a short time span between some primary burials and the translation of the remains. The “anatomical” management of bone pieces is reduced to a few rare bundles of long bones or groupings of skulls. Therefore there is no evidence of an intention to arrange and optimize space, contrary to what is sometimes observed5. We also note the attention that seems to have been paid to the exhumation of the bodies, with only one bone showing a mark that could be linked to the action of the gravediggers.

• 6 Duday 2005, p. 166.

8The presence of four articulated skeletons is a remarkable fact. The two young children deposited at the bottom of the pit, whose estimated age are respectively 40 weeks of amenorrhea and approximately 6 months, were each buried in a coffin. One of the two subjects deposited in the second layer of bones is also a very young child (between 1 and 2 months). It is not possible to know if the body was buried in a coffin. The last subject is an adult male, whose particularity is to have been deposited on his front side on the layer of bones, a unique burial position for this site (fig. 22). Its orientation, head to the southwest, is the same one as that of the burials belonging to the cemetery to which it is contemporary. Several disarticulated joints seem to indicate decomposition in an empty space, which may have been provided by a coffin or simply resulted from the near absence of earth in the bone pile. Strains on the skeleton suggest wrapping in a shroud. For this individual and the two children at the bottom of the pit, the fact that labile joints are still articulated no doubt indicates that we are in the presence of primary burials6.

• 7 Paravicini Bagliani 1992.
• 8 Hervieu, Herrscher, Colardelle 2008.
• 9 Richier 2016, p. 275.
• 10 Lauwers 2005, p. 127.

9Medieval texts are rather discreet about the fate of bodies between its burial and the Last Judgement, and are more interested in its integrity before its burial7. It is generally considered that the dispersion of body parts does not compromise the chances of salvation. Thus, the placing of ossuaries “is part of a ritual process in keeping with Christian dogma […], which in turn meets the definition of Christian burial”8. These gestures result from a need to manage the cemetery space but also translate “a positive intent”9. Finally, Christian eschatology gives less importance to individual burial than to the cemetery as a “consecrated space”10 and, with the placing of the remains in an ossuary, they are preserved “within the Church”. The location of the Boulonnais ossuary, within the consecrated space, in the immediate vicinity or in direct contact with the sanctuary, thus reflects the status of the collected from primary burial sites.

• 11 Leclerc 1990, p. 14.

10What then is the motivation for the actions that led to primary burials in this place? The attested presence of two coffins, that constitute an indisputable sign of the “intentionality of the deposit and [of] the will to perform a funerary gesture”11, seems to us to be a sufficient argument to qualify them as burials. For the adult individual, the possible presence of a shroud could be evidence of the care takin in preparing the body and thus testifies to the funerary intention of the gesture. The ossuary is thus no longer simply a vessel for the emptying of the parish cemetery but becomes a place of burial.

• 12 Perez 2016, p. 199.

11This proposal necessarily induces a discussion on the meaning that should be given to these funerary gestures. For juvenile subjects, we can suggest that the deposit translates a particular attention paid to the deceased child, by the search of proximity with the church. Spatial analysis of the part of the cemetery excavated seems to support this practice, which is regularly observed12, with a preferential location of children’s burials in the vicinity of the sanctuary.

• 13 Treffort 2004, p. 137-138.
• 14 Lauwers 2005 ; Vivas 2012.
• 15 Crubézy, Duchesne, Arlaud 2006, p. 343 ; Colleter 2018, p. 135.
• 16 Alexandre-Bidon 1993, p. 194 ; Dierkens 1996, p. 44.
• 17 Hervieu, Herrscher, Colardelle 2008.

12But can the same be said of the adult buried on his front? Is this position a choice of the individual? Does it reflect a form of post-mortem punishment? The singularity of a burial conveys, often wrongly, notions of exclusion or deviance13. All the hypotheses are then possible, from the “clandestine” deposit of a man who was not supposed to be buried in consecrated land to that of an indigent or anonymous foreigner. The bodies of the excommunicated, the cases of suicides, the tortured were turned away from the cemetery on its margins, deprived of sepultura ecclesiastica, and medieval documents translate the fear of a “contamination” of the cemetery by forbidden bodies14. Nothing of the sort here: the body of this deceased person is not relegated to the margins of the funerary space, but to the contrary is buried within the very community of “good Christians”. Several examples of bodies being buried on their front suggest that this singular position is frequently associated with privileged burials15. It could be indicative of a gesture of prayer and contrition16. In the same way, burials within ossuaries could testify to the humility of certain testators who preferred to be buried within the community rather than in dividual vaults17.