These included wine, lentils, beans, pork and a domesticated rooster. Interestingly, the glass containers contained food remnants that revealed the luxurious dietary possibilities in that period.

The pyre also held the remains of a young child (5-8 years old). The first pyre was richly endowed and contained 17 ceramic vessels, 10 bronze vases, four glass containers, a funeral bed, several boxes, and three copper-alloy strigils (a Greek/Roman scrapping tool for cleaning the body). The Inrap report about the Epagny Metz-Tessy finds describes the funeral pyre artifacts in great detail. (©Emmanuel Ferber, INRAP ) The Funeral Pyres: Artifact Treasure and a Rare Curule Chair Their recent scientific report provides detailed insights into the nature of the artifacts found within the Roman funeral pyres of Epagny Metz-Tessy, France.Ī small portion of the high-class Roman grave goods found in the second funeral pyre. The French archaeological research group Inrap (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research), under the leadership of scientific manager Emmanuel Farber, has taken over management of the site. And from the evidence found one can immediately understand that the Romans buried their dead with their possessions, a practice common to many other cultures, and that this particular site, based on the furniture unearthed there, was dedicated to a pair of aristocrats or otherwise elite Romans.

The remarkable curule chair was a rare find among a wider range of high-class burial artifacts.Ĭlearly these funeral pyres were perfect examples of Roman burial rituals 2000 years ago. The burial artifacts included a stunning Roman military ruler’s curule chair and furniture associated with the upper classes. After an SNC group carried out routine inspections and excavations prior to giving the all-clear on new housing construction on the site, they stumbled upon two Roman funeral pyres from the 1 st century AD. Recently, two amazing discoveries were made in the commune of Epagny Metz-Tessy, in the Haute-Savoie department in southeastern France, near Annecy.

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