An archaeological dig in France uncovered more than two dozen dead horses, leaving researchers with a puzzling mystery.
The dig, located in Villedieu-sur-Indre in central France, has uncovered several buildings, wells, ditches and even a path from the early Middle Ages, according to a press release from the country’s National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research. The finds include nine pits containing the remains of horses.
Archaeologists used radiocarbon dating to determine that the horses lived between 100 BC and 100 AD, a span of about 200 years.
Only two of the pits have been fully excavated so far. In one pit, the horses were all found on their right sides, with their heads facing south, the news release said. The animals were ‘carefully placed in the pit and organized in two rows and on two levels’, and there is evidence that the horses were ‘buried simultaneously very soon after death’. All the horses were small males, more than four years old and probably Gallic cattle.
The second pit contains only two horses, but they are buried in the same way as the others.
Another pit appeared to contain two adult dogs, similarly positioned and “carefully placed,” the news statement said, but investigators don’t know what — if anything — the dog’s inclusion means. While other pits have yet to be fully excavated, researchers have found remains of bones that allowed them to identify at least 28 horses buried at the site.
The precision and uniformity of the burial sites left researchers wondering how and why the animals died. According to the press release, diseases can be ruled out because there are no young or female horses among the dead, leaving only two possible options: the horses could have fallen in battle and been buried with honors, or they could have been sacrificed.
Similar discoveries have been made on other Gallic battlefields in France. One had a pit with room for eight riders and their horses, while another site contained 53 horses, spread over five pits. The sites are close to battlefields in the region, making it possible that they were killed and buried during those battles, the news release said.
Little information was given as to why the animals might have been sacrificed, with the press release noting that the death of 28 horses was a “huge blow to the heart of a herd”.
Researchers continue to study the pits and other structures at the site to try to determine how and why the animals died and what else the site was used for.
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