Merovingian village of Goudelancourt-lès-Pierrepont
The Merovingian village of Goudelancourt-lès-Pierrepont is an archaeological site in the municipality of Goudelancourt-lès-Pierrepont in the Aisne department in Picardy in France . The site was discovered while deep plowing and excavated between 1981 and 2001.
The Merovingian settlement from the 6th and 7th centuries consisted of a village and a two-part necropolis located on a nearby hill , which contained a total of 458 body graves (including double and multiple graves) sunk into chalk . The older ones were predominantly south-west-northeast-oriented, the younger ones west-east-oriented. Gravestones were only sporadically discovered in the pits. 90% of the graves were looted; coffins were found in 37% of the graves, including remains of stone coffins or stone settlements . As grave goods were mainly ceramic objects , jewelry (mostly disc brooches discovered) and weapons. However, intact graves without graves were also unearthed. On the basis of a comparison of the skull size of the skeletons found, it was found that two tribes lived in the area , one of which is characterized by large skulls ( crâne de grand format ). The tombs from the 7th century show the influence of Irish monks who maintained a monastery in the nearby Marais de Saint-Boëtien in Liesse-Notre-Dame . The remains of a building of unknown function were discovered between the two parts of the cemetery.
The excavation objects are exhibited in the Musée des Temps Barbares in Marle . Next to this museum, a farm from the Merovingian era has been reconstructed, based on the knowledge gained from the excavations.
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Coordinates: 49 ° 40 ′ 31.5 " N , 3 ° 50 ′ 7.9" E