Un établissement de l’étape moyenne du Bronze final à Morancez (Eure-et-Loir)

Abstract

The excavation of the Ardrets site in Morancez (28) has uncovered an occupation from the Middle Bronze Age. The occupation includes habitat structures to the north and excavations linked to funerary practices to the south. The contemporaneity of the two complexes is not proven. The organisation of the residential sector is comparable to contemporary sites in northwestern France. Seen in a partial way, this habitat may correspond to a hamlet or a small village materialised by buildings associated with small constructions probably linked to storage. An important batch of ceramics, attributable to the Final Bronze Age IIIa, was unearthed during this operation. It adds to a corpus that is poorly documented in the Eure-et-Loir.The site is located on the margins of the Channel-North Sea and Rhine-Switzerland-Eastern France complexes. This geographical situation allows the occupation of Morancez to be put into perspective within this "buffer" zone. This sector remains poorly documented in relation to the information available in neighbouring regions. While the funerary practices identified are attributable to Manche-mer du Nord culture, the architecture and ceramic furniture reflect various influences.These discoveries provide new information on the cultural affinities of the department during the Middle Bronze Age. The geographical location of the site allows the two cultures to be put into perspective, the limits of which have yet to be defined.

Keywords

• Morancez
• Eure-et-Loir
• middle stage of the Late Bronze Age
• habitat
• ceramics
• funeral