Iron shackles, metallurgy remains found in Gallic settlement

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Gallic settlement dating to the third century B.C. in Allonnes, northwestern France, with a large metalworking district marked by numerous metal tools, raw materials and metallurgy waste. The team also unearthed at least five iron shackles for wrists and ankles, an extremely rare find for Iron Age Gaul.

Their presence suggests that the slave trade likely took place within the Gallic settlement of Allonnes. Generally speaking, traces relating to the poorest members of Gallic society, and especially those of servile populations, remain invisible. Those enslaved may have been prisoners of war, convicts, or individuals owing unpaid debts. Men, women, and children became individuals without rights, mere objects of property that could be resold by their owners.

The settlement was at the intersection of several ancient thoroughfares, which explains why it had such a large and vibrant neighborhood of artisan workshops, including the metalworking district. The remains of small buildings on posts were found over numerous squares. These were probably workshops or storefronts where products manufactured in the workshops or locally harvested and processed foodstuffs were sold.

The excavation also uncovered the remains of a sanctuary that was in use for almost 8 centuries, continuing to draw worshippers after the settlement itself was abandoned.

Numerous rituals—likely reserved for a select few members of the priesthood, such as the druids—were performed there, while others, accessible to the entire population, took place directly in a public space adjacent to the religious building. A multitude of weapons (swords, scabbards, spearheads, etc.) and several hundred coins, both Gallic and Roman, spanning more than five centuries, were deposited as offerings to the gods. Small objects made of copper alloy (harness fittings, keys, etc.) as well as clothing and jewelry (fibulae, amulets, rings), also used as offerings, were also discovered.

Whether placed within the sanctuary or in votive spaces outside, many of these offerings bear traces of deliberate deformation or mutilation. This symbolic act aimed to strip the object of its functional and/or commercial character, transforming it into a gift for the gods. Thus, many of the weapons unearthed by archaeologists have been twisted, bent, or sheared. Similarly, a third of the coins discovered at Allonnes have been mutilated with chisels, filed, or sheared.

Between the marketplace, workshops and sanctuary with its offerings, archaeologists recovered a large number of metal objects of unusual variety. They are now being analyzed and conserved by experts at the Arc’antique laboratory in Nantes. To clean some of the thick coatings of corrosion material, the team is using techniques like chemical baths and micro-sandblasting as well as precision scalpel work.

* This article was originally published here