Archaeologists in France have discovered nine “astonishing” graves containing the skeletons of 28 horses that were buried around 2,000 years ago, although their exact cause of death remains a mystery.
Discovered in Villedieu-sur-Indre, a commune in central France, two of the graves have been fully excavated so far, the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) said in a statement.
Horses have been radiocarbon dated to some period between 100 BC to 100 AD
Archaeologists found 10 complete horse skeletons in one pit and two in the other, all carefully positioned in the same way, lying on the right flank with their heads facing south.
All of these horses were buried at the same time, shortly after their deaths, archaeologists said after observing the position of the skeletons and the connections between the bones.
Another grave is situated between these two graves, but contains two medium-sized dogs, both lying on the left flank with their heads facing west.
Archaeologists have not yet completely excavated the remaining graves, but they have identified a total of 28 horses from the skulls and thigh bones that appear on the surface.
Killed in battle or ritual sacrifice?
However, the exact cause of the horses’ deaths still remains unclear.
Archaeologists have ruled out an epidemic, as there are no foals or mares in these graves; all skeletons are adult stallions over four years of age. This leaves, according to archaeologists, the possibility that these horses were killed in battle or as part of a ritual sacrifice.
When these horses died out about 2,000 years ago, there was a fortified Celtic settlement known as the oppidum just a few hundred meters away, and this location mirrors that of two other similar horse burial sites that archaeologists have previously discovered in the same area. region.
Because of this location, they hypothesized that the horse deaths at the sites could be connected to the battles of the Gallic Wars, in which Julius Caesar conquered Gaul between 58 and 50 BC.
There may be another explanation, however: ritual sacrifice.
“The hypothesis that these animals were sacrificed as part of a complex ritual, of which only a few fragments remain, must also be considered,” said the INRAP statement.
If these horses were indeed buried as part of a ritual rather than killed in battle, the staggering number shows the “importance and extent of the sacrifice,” the statement added.
Other finds at the site, which sits on the side of a valley, include buildings, pits, ditches and a road that archaeologists have dated to the late 5th and early 6th centuries.
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