In a muddy field located between a motorway and a meander of the

Seine southeast of Paris, French archaeologists have uncovered an

Iron Age graveyard that they believe will shed light on the great

yet enigmatic civilisation of Gaul.

The site, earmarked for a warehouse project on the outskirts of

Troyes, is yielding a stunning array of finds, including five

Celtic warriors, whose weapons and adornments attest to membership

of a powerful but long-lost elite.

Archaeologist Emilie Millet is crouched at one of 14 burial sites

that have been uncovered in recent weeks.

At her feet are the remains of a tall warrior, complete with a 70

-centimetre (28-inch) iron sword still in its scabbard.

“I have never seen anything like it,” said Millet, gazing at a

metal-framed shield whose wood-and-leather core has long rotted

away.

Buried next to the warriors are several women, whose agate beads —

twisted-metal necklaces known as torcs, and large bronze brooches

decorated with precious coral — also speak of high status.

In one grave, a woman was buried next to a man, separated by a

layer of soil, speaking of a close but as-yet unfathomable bond.

“This graveyard is exceptional in more ways than one,” says the

National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap),

which excavates sites of potential interest before the bulldozers

are allowed in.

The turquoise beads suggests that the dead were buried between 325 and

260 BC, in a period known as La Tene. Another clue may come from

analysis of the scabbards, whose decoration changed according to

military fashion. Designs in this period typically had two open-

mouthed dragons facing each other, with their bodies curled.

La Tene, whose name comes from an archaeological site in

Switzerland, ran from about the 5th century BC to the first

century AD, marking the glory years of the Celts.

During this time, the Celts expanded from their core territory in

central Europe to as far afield as northern Scotland and the

Atlantic coast of Spain.

They clashed with the emerging Roman empire, whose writers

recorded the invaders as pale-skinned savages, dressed in breeches

with bleached hair, who cut off their enemies’ heads, preserving

those of high rank in cedar oil.

The barbarian image, though, has been dispelled by historical

research in recent decades.

It has laid bare a complex civilisation that had a mastery of

metal and a trading system which spanned Europe and generated

great wealth.

The find at Bucheres raises several questions, for there has never

been any trace of major Celtic settlement in this neighbourhood.

The graves were uncovered at a depth of about two metres (6.5

feet) but if they had any external markers, none remains.

An earlier civilisation, from the Bronze Age, left a line of

burial mounds nearby, “which would have been visible for miles

(kilometres) around,” said Inrap archaeologist Cecile Paresys.

Just as intriguing, the excavation has yet to find any pottery or

evidence of food, which were often added to Iron Age burials to

sustain the dead in the spirit world.

No remains of children have been found, although this absence is

common to Celtic necropolises — something that anthropologists

are at a loss to explain.

Years of patient forensic work lie ahead to tease out clues about

how these people lived and died. In the meantime, the remains are

being recorded where they lie before being gently prised from the

earth and preserved.