Tumulus n° 10
MonumentHidden Treasure
Tumulus n° 10, located in Baccon (Loiret), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Baccon, Loiret, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.8781, 1.6037
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00098687
A silent sentinel of the Loirétaine plain, this protohistoric tumulus at Baccon conceals beneath its earthy mass the secret of an aristocratic burial site dating back more than two millennia.
© Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia
History
In the heart of Beauce and the Loire Valley, in an area that was one of the crossroads of European Protohistory, burial mound no. 10 at Baccon stands like a deceptively discreet funerary monument. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1980, it is one of a remarkable group of mounds that still dot the Loiret landscape, bearing witness to a civilisation whose social organisation and ritual practices are proving fascinating for archaeologists and lovers of ancient history. This type of funerary monument, characteristic of the Bronze and Iron Ages - roughly between 2000 and 50 BC - consisted of covering a burial chamber with a mantle of earth and sometimes stones to create an artificial mound visible from afar. In the Centre-Val de Loire region, such burial mounds are associated with warrior or princely elites who wished to mark their territory and perpetuate their memory beyond death. Mound no. 10 at Baccon is fully in keeping with this tradition. A visit to this site offers a contemplative and intimate experience, far removed from the tourist crowds. To stand at the top or foot of the mound is to physically grasp the permanence of the human gesture of honouring the dead by raising a patiently accumulated mass of earth to the heavens. The silence that often reigns here, in a bright, open agricultural landscape, reinforces the monument's symbolic power. The surrounding natural setting, typical of the Loirétaine plain with its vast horizons and scattered woodland, gives the burial mound an undeniable landscape presence. On a clear day, the rounded silhouette of the mound stands out against the sky with a clarity that explains why these mounds were long mistaken for natural formations before modern archaeology revealed their artificial nature and funerary function.
Architecture
Tumulus no. 10 at Baccon has the characteristic morphology of protohistoric burial mounds in the Loire basin: a flattened dome shape, circular or slightly elliptical in plan, with a diameter at the base of between twenty and forty metres, and a preserved height of between one and four metres. These seemingly modest dimensions represented, at the time they were built, a large-scale project carried out without the use of heavy metal tools. The internal structure of a burial mound of this type generally comprises a central burial chamber, created before the earth was covered. Depending on the period of construction - Bronze Age or Iron Age - this chamber may be delimited by limestone slabs forming a formwork, by wooden posts that have long since disappeared, or by a simple excavation in the natural soil. The mound of earth is often reinforced by one or more rings of stones or stakes to stabilise the mass and symbolically mark the boundaries of the burial area. The materials used are exclusively local: clay-limestone soil taken from the immediate vicinity, possibly mixed with flint and fragments of Beauce limestone. The absence of any visible roof or masonry is a feature of the genre: the tumulus is its own monument, the earth being both a building material and a symbolic material, enveloping the deceased in the bosom of the nurturing earth.
Related Figures
Défunt protohistorique anonyme — personnage d'élite inhumé sous le tertre, dont le rang social élevé justifiait l'érection du monumentÉrudits et archéologues du XIXe siècle — membres de la Société archéologique et historique de l'Orléanais, pionniers du recensement des tumulus du LoiretInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques (1980) — administrateurs ayant instruit et signé l'arrêté d'inscription protégeant le site
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Tumulus n° 10 located?
Tumulus n° 10 is located in Baccon, Loiret department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
Is Tumulus n° 10 open to visitors?
Tumulus n° 10 is currently closed to visitors.