ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ

For the past year, teams of archaeologists have been scraping and digging at various locations on the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ work site. An "archaeological survey" is required by the French law preliminary to any construction, whether it be a motorway, a car park or a fusion installation. Over the past months, the archaeologists mandated by the Agence Iter France have identified remnants of several charcoal burners on the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ site, a lime kiln and a glassworks, dating back to the late 18th century.

Now, a team from the National Institute of Preventive Archaeology (INRAP) has come up with a more spectacular find: next to the RD 912, the road leading from Cadarache to Vinon-sur-Verdon where the trees have been cut for ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ's hydraulic network, several tombs have been found. Presumably they were part of a small necropolis. "Burial techniques of this kind have been common in Provence from late antiquity until the time of the Merovingian kings, so we are talking about a time span between the 5th and the 7th century A.D.", says Françoise Trial, in charge of Archaeology in the Bouches-du-Rhône department.

Fifty years ago, when CEA-Cadarache was being built, excavators had brought to light a similar burial place, which is still visible inside the CEA/Cadarache centre. Some Bronze Age tombs were also discovered nearby, one of them containing the remains of both a man and a boar. "Probably some kind of offering", says Françoise Trial. The first survey of the newly discovered tombs is now completed. Their potential historical interest has prompted the INRAP to file a request for a "salvage dig", which, if granted, could begin in the coming weeks.