Gold bars and jewelry discovered on a construction site north of Caen

For Inrap researchers (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research), the plain of Caen (Calvados) is a mine of information. According to the construction sites, the discoveries follow one another.

At the end of 2020 in Giberville before the development of a housing estate, a 6,000-year-old “princely tomb” resurfaced. A year earlier in Ifs, on the site of the future prison, the discoveries were also described as “exceptional”, with a Gallic underground and a chariot tomb.

“From prehistory to July 1944”

This time, it’s between Caen and the landing beaches in Normandy, Blainville-sur-Orne, that Inrap intervened. On the site of the Terres d’Avenir district (850 housing units under construction), “numerous remains over a very long period, from prehistory to July 1944” have been found, summarizes Claude Le Potier, director of Inrap Grand Ouest. .

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Yet accustomed to excavations on her sites, Delphine Jean, president of Focim, the developer of the subdivision, remarks that: “this is the first time that it has been so important. 32 ha were first diagnosed between December 2016 and May 2017.”

Then, the archaeological excavations were spread over 2017 and 2019, juggling between the first constructions and agricultural work.

“The story of the plain of Caen”

In the end, “in Blainville, we have a summary of the history of the plain of Caen”, appreciates Cyril Marcigny, the deputy departmental director of Inrap.

Several periods of human occupation since the Paleolithic (nearly 70,000 years ago) have thus been studied.

The traces of the Bronze Age, with a necropolis (2,200 to 800 years BC) “very, very rich with a lot of jewels in the tombs” are off the beaten track.

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Another researcher, Emmanuel Ghesquière, focused in particular on a 45 x 50 m enclosure which marks “a renewal in the knowledge of the type of presence in the region. “Perforated deer head, arrowhead and even a whale bone illustrate this richness.

Later, in the Iron Age (800 to 52 BC), it was also a necropolis that came back to life. Here lived a “well-to-do population”, detected thanks to “their size, their teeth and their jewelry: the richest collection in Calvados”, considers Cyril Marcigny, who reports “a small treasure of 29 gold bars and silver “.

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The last oscultated period is very close to us. By cross-referencing data from military archives, the presence of British soldiers between June 6 and the end of July 1944 was clarified. “We excavated 3,000 m2, it was like a test for us for this period”, reveals Vincent Carpentier, another archaeologist. “The bric-a-brac of fragments of found objects documents the stay of the regiments and their daily reality. »

It is a documented history of the life of soldiers at the front with the help of quite rare relics.

Notable example, the remains of a D-Day glider, “an extremely rare item”, was excavated. During the Battle of Normandy, the English took parts of it to create the holes and ditches where the liberators were hiding against the German enemy.

Presentation to the public

The cost (€627,000 supported by Focim, €178,000 by the State) is equal to the discoveries, part of which will be returned to the public. It will be May 21 and 22 for a full weekend in the grounds of the Château de Bénouville via objects presented. Animations and conferences will also be on the program.

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