Excavations in the Orne Valley have brought to light a “princely” burial dating to the Early Bronze Age (c. 1900–1800 BC).
The burial contained an exceptional assemblage of prestige grave goods, including 31 flint arrowheads, two bronze daggers, and a fragment of rock crystal that may once have formed part of a pendant.
The larger of the two bronze daggers measures 30 cm and retains traces of a leather sheath, while the smaller example had once been protected by a wicker sheath. Both weapons belong to the “Armorican” type and still preserve their fastening rivets; however, their organic handles (likely wooden) have not survived.
The arrowheads, also of the Armorican type, display remarkable uniformity and meticulous craftsmanship. Their refined execution suggests production by highly skilled specialists. Such objects are found almost exclusively in funerary contexts, where they functioned as tangible markers of wealth and authority.
The skeletal remains of this high-status individual have entirely disappeared, dissolved by the soil’s acidity. The grave was probably once covered by a tumulus that has since eroded. Characteristic of the Armorican Tumulus cultural tradition, burials of this kind are well documented in western France—particularly on the Breton peninsula—but remain rare in Normandy, where only six examples have been identified to date.
The site at Écouché-les-Vallées parallels a similar discovery inside the neighbouring commune of Loucé and is situated within a wider Early Bronze Age scene. Nearby places are a cult enclosure near Loucé, just a few hundred metres away, and the large enclosure at Moulins-sur-Orne, six kilometres distant.
The fact these high-profile sites have settled so densely on either side of the Orne indicates a large territory, within which the Écouché-les-Vallées burial likely represents the ruling elite.
The Earliest Neolithic Settlements in the Orne
The excavation also revealed traces of much earlier occupation, dating to the Early Neolithic (4900–4800 BC). Several large pits identified on the site attest to the presence of a settlement. Some served as storage silos for cereal grains, while others served as extraction pits for the earth used to construct building walls.
These features yielded a rich assemblage of material culture characteristic of the late phase of the Villeneuve-Saint-Germain tradition: storage vessels decorated with cord impressions and applied knobs, chipped flint tools, several preforms of polished greenstone axes, and fragments of quern stones used for grinding grain.
Although the structure itself lies beyond the excavated area—only its lateral pits were uncovered—it was most likely a large Danubian-type longhouse typical of the period, comparable to a similar building excavated 500 meters away in 2009.
Together, these discoveries at Écouché-les-Vallées provide crucial evidence for establishing the first farming communities in the Orne region at the end of the Early Neolithic. These isolated homesteads correspond to the final phase of Danubian expansion, when early agrarian groups were dispersing across the landscape.
Header Image Credit : Raphaëlle Lefèbvre
Sources : Inrap
