The INRAP team discovered one section that had never before been excavated.
“No one has seen it since antiquity,” said INRAP president Dominique Garcia.
Colonna said the team was also “very happy” to have found a skeleton with a coin in its mouth, allowing them to date the burial to the 2nd century AD.
The excavation, which began in March, has uncovered 50 graves, all of which were used for burial – not cremation, which was also common at the time.
FERRYMAN OF HADES
The remains of the men, women and children are believed to be Parisii, a Gallic people who lived in Lutetia, from when the town on the banks of the Seine River was under the control of the Roman Empire.
The skeletons were buried in wooden coffins, which were now only identifiable by their nails.
More than half were buried alongside offerings such as ceramic jugs and goblets.
Sometimes a coin was placed in the coffin, or even in the mouth of the dead, a common practice at the time called Charon’s obol.
In Greek mythology, Charon is the ferryman of Hades, and the coin was considered a bribe to carry the souls of the dead across the river Styx.
The archaeologists also found shoes inside the graves, identifying them by the small nails that would be been in the soles.
Colonna said the shoes were placed “either at the feet of the dead or next to them, like an offering”.
Jewellery, hairpins and belts were also discovered.
The entire skeleton of a pig and another small animal was discovered in a pit where animals were thought to have been sacrificed to the gods.
Unlike the excavation in the 1800s, this time the team plans to remove everything from the necropolis for analysis.
“This will allow us to understand the life of the Parisii through their funeral rites, as well as their health by studying their DNA,” Colonna said.
Garcia said that the ancient history of Paris was “generally not well known”.
The unearthed graves open “a window into the world of Paris during antiquity,” he added.
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