More than a hundred years ago, Albert Naef, the first cantonal archaeologist in the canton of Vaud, identified the Neolithic necropolis on the Chemin de Chamblandes in Pully, near Lausanne on Lake Geneva. With some seventy tombs, this necropolis has remained famous and the term "Chamblandes-type cists" has since been used to designate the tombs built as small slab chests during the Middle Neolithic, between 4500 and 3500 BC. Typical of the Alpine arc, these unique structures, designed to accommodate one or more burials, are found throughout Europe in various forms.
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| View of the side slabs of two cists [Credit: Archeodunum SA, M. Millet] |
The archaeological monitoring of the work on the Chemin de Verney, entrusted to the company Archeodunum SA, was carried out between 28 June and 17 August 2021. Over an area of barely 10 m2, eight cist tombs, made of limestone slabs, were uncovered. They were found at a shallow depth and their cover slabs, which were very fragmented, were only partially preserved.
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| Three cist tombs during excavation [Credit: Archeodunum SA, M. Millet] |
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| View of four tombs in excavation trench [Credit: Archeodunum SA, M. Millet] |
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| Tomb T5 with collapsed cover slab [Credit: Archeodunum SA, M. Millet] |
Two graves were intact in the centre of the trench, the others having been damaged by recent excavations in connection with recent city works. Only three graves yielded bone remains. All of them were cranial elements. It is assumed that some of the small chests may have contained the burials of children whose skeletons are no longer preserved. One of the graves, which was only studied in terms of stratigraphy, contained items of jewellery in the form of lignite beads. As this was a rescue excavation, the graves that lay outside the construction area were protected and left in situ.
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| Skull fragments in tomb T5 [Credit: Archeodunum SA, M. Millet] |
The last discoveries in this area of Pully date back to 1984. These new burials offer a rare opportunity to complete the plan of the necropolis, which is still difficult to define given the absence of recent extensive excavations on this site.
Source: Bureau d'information et de communication de l'Etat de Vaud [trsl. TANN; October 20, 2021]
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