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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The pit burial of Bonnières-sur-Seine was discovered in May 1950 during drilling near the village church. Immediately reported, she was subjected to illegal looting before the official searches conducted by Eliane Basse de Menorval. Bones and about 30 slabs were stolen, but the research allowed to document an exceptional collective grave, classified as a historic monument in 1951. A small museum was first set up on site, then the burial was integrated in 1986 into the Louis Jouvet cultural centre, where a hall is dedicated to it.

The tomb, dug in the alluvions 200 m from the Seine, is 8.30 m long for a variable width (1.40 to 2.10 m). Its walls are bounded by vertical slabs of local limestone, and the paved soil housed the remains of about 40 individuals (adults, children, old people). The skulls, often broken and isolated, suggest selective funeral rites. The recovered furniture includes flint tools (lames, arrows), trimmings (perforated teeth, fossils) and traces of fireplaces, reflecting a ritualized occupation over several generations.

The slabs, of local origin (range < 2 km), formed a complex structure: two superimposed layers covered the deceased, surmounted by a third terminal layer at 0.90 m depth. A possible wooden frame, now extinct, could have consolidated the whole. The tomb illustrates the collective practices of the recent Neolithic (c. 3000–2500 B.C.), where burials served as places of community memory, often reopened for new burials.

Classified since 1951 (decree of 14 November), the burial is now owned by the municipality. Its state of conservation and furniture, although partially looted, make it a key site for understanding the Neolithic societies of Île-de-France. The excavations of Menorval and subsequent studies (notably by Jean-Claude Blanchet) allowed the monument to be placed in the network of regional collective burials, such as those of the Yvelines.

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