Review of: Iron Age and Roman Burials In Champagne IM Stead, J.-L. Flouest & V. Rigby (With Contributions by S. Stead, IC Freestone, PC Buckland, JRA Greig, C. … more

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. (2010) Book Review IRON AGE AND CHAMPAGNE ROMAN BURIALS IN I.M. Stead, J.-L. Flouest & V. Rigby (with contributions by S. Stead, I.C. Freestone, P.C. Buckland, J.R.A. Greig, C. Frederick, P. Wagner & C.J. Beal). Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK 2006; 345 pp ISBN 978-1-84217-094-6. US $100.00 This monograph chronicles a decade of excavations in six Iron Age and Roman period cemeteries in the Champagne region of France. Each cemetery includes detailed data on stratigraphy, chronology, burial form, grave goods and osteological remains, and there is an inventory of each burial, complete with artefact sketches. In addition to meticulous reporting of the finds uncovered in excavation of the cemeteries, contributions by a physical anthropologist and several palaeoenvironmental experts provide new information about the ancient population and the landscape in which they lived. The terse introduction situates the excavations in the 1970s and early 1980s at the sites of ´ Alincourt, Juniville, Ville-sur-Retourne, MenilAnnelles, Saulces-Champenoises and Quilly, all near the Aisne River and close to an ancient Roman road. With no further orientation for the non-expert in terms of the time frame, geographical area or research questions under investigation, the cemeteries are presented in the order in which they were excavated. The chapter on the cemeteries includes excavation plans for each site, section plans for ditches and postholes at Quilly, Saulces-Champe´ noises and Menil-Annelles, detailed plans of the Roman period cremations and inhumations at Villesur-Retourne, and measurements of the burial enclosures and ditches at each cemetery. Following the presentation of the cemetery data is an extensive chapter summarising the grave goods recovered, including coins, pottery, glass, metal and jewellery. The items are broken down into categories, and numerous comparanda are provided where applicable. Although parts of V. Rigby’s Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pottery discussion are confusing for non-specialists, the ceramic petrography that was undertaken by I.C. Freestone in 1982–1983 yielded interesting conclusions about clay sourcing. Most of the pottery was made from glauconitic clays local to the area, but petrography isolated two amphorae likely originating in southern Italy and Spain. An additional extraordinary find was a Roman coin hoard at Villesur-Retourne, with over 1500 coins whose dates suggest a burial in the 4th century AD. Human and animal remains from the graves are reported on by S. Stead. Considering the lack of coverage most cremation burials in ancient Europe receive, the thorough treatment given to the burned ´ bones from Juniville, Menil-Annelles and Ville-surRetourne is commendable. Tables are included that summarise the burials in terms of identified body parts and generalised age and sex categories where possible. The weight of each cremation is given, along with the size of the largest skull and long bone fragments, their colour and calcination, and the species and weight of any associated animal remains. For the inhumations, a standard compendium of cranial and postcranial measurements is presented, averaged by sex for each site, as well as cranial and ` postcranial indices. Many of the La Tene I graves were disturbed, resulting in the patterned displacement of the skull and the right-sided arm bones. Regarding palaeopathology, little was found beyond the expected fractures and osteoarthritis, other than an individual from Ville-sur-Retourne who presented three supernumerary teeth, extensive humeral musculature and oddly positioned cranial ossicles. Comparative analysis between the Iron Age and Gallo-Roman inhumed individuals demonstrated that the latter lived longer but the former had healthier teeth. A chapter on palaeoecology by P.C. Buckland, J.R.A. Greig, C. Frederick, P. Wagner and C.J. Beal tackles the longstanding question of the composition of terre noire, a dark soil found in many Iron Age graves. The authors reject the symbolic hypothesis that it is fertile earth added to the grave to represent Book Review the Elysian Fields as well as the taphonomic hypothesis that wooden coffin decay imparted organic material into the ground. Rather, the authors present a geological explanation in which large-scale farming and pasturage changed the composition of the topmost layers of soil in the Champagne area, leaving parts of the old ground surface, the terre noire, in burials. The final chapter before the inventory is a discussion of the information presented in the first `ne half of the book. The disturbances in the La Te I graves are explained as a reopening of the tombs soon after burial, possibly associated with a specific ` ritual. A relative chronology of the La Tene II–III sites is proffered, indicating continuous occupation in this area for about 700 years. In this time period, burial enclosures changed from circular in shape to square. Other than evidence of a possible ritual activity, no further anthropological conclusions about the Iron Age or Gallo-Roman populations are drawn from the data. This volume has a number of limitations in its presentation of the data gathered during excavation and laboratory analysis. The inventories and tables of grave goods, which make up about half of the book, are excellently illustrated and catalogued, but there is little cohesion in the preceding chapters. The sections on excavations, artefacts, bones and landscape read like individual reports rather than integral parts of a synthetic archaeological project, and many of the contributions lack recent bibliographic citations. Abundant tables help clarify data presentation in the artefact and osteology chapters, but the black-and-white plates at the end of the volume are not all high quality. For the nonspecialist, there is neither sufficient introduction to the project’s goals nor a final chapter that situates the findings within the context of Iron Age and Roman period burials in France or in Europe as a whole. The result of over a decade of excavation, Iron Age and Roman Burials in Champagne presents a wealth of well-illustrated data. Each category of evidence helps shed light on previously under-researched styles of burial, making it an important compendium for specialists in the artefacts, burials and skeletal remains of Iron Age France. Kristina Killgrove University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3120 USA Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/oa.1160 Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. (2010)