“The brand new historical past of Bairn”: from the Neolithic to the top of Antiquity, the primary Bairn

meBéarnais already existed a number of thousand years earlier than our period. Between -6,000 and -5,000, the primary Neolithic folks crossed the Pyrenees and settled within the space. These teams of people are then characterised by experiencing new human practices: breeding, agriculture, the manufacturing of pottery and polished stone instruments. “A number of grains, legumes and a few animal species (sheep, goats, cattle and pigs) had been domesticated. Man, who till then was a hunter-gatherer, turns into a producer of his meals,” he develops. Patrice Dumontier, one of many authors of the “New Historical past of Béarn”. These newcomers meet the final hunter-gatherers, constructing on these…

meBéarnais already existed a number of thousand years earlier than our period. Between -6,000 and -5,000, the primary Neolithic folks crossed the Pyrenees and settled within the space. These teams of people are then characterised by experiencing new human practices: breeding, agriculture, the manufacturing of pottery and polished stone instruments. “A number of grains, legumes and a few animal species (sheep, goats, cattle and pigs) had been domesticated. Man, who till then was a hunter-gatherer, turns into a producer of his meals,” he develops. Patrice Dumontier, one of many authors of the “New Historical past of Béarn”. These new males met the final hunter-gatherers, nurtured them, and established the primary Béarnaise inhabitants.

At the moment, homes had not but been constructed, and even much less massive cities like Pau or Nay. The lodging is extra rural. Males typically reside in pure shelters and outside websites. Indicators of presence had been discovered within the cave of Apons, in Sarrance, within the valley of Aspe. We needed to wait till the second half of the 4th millennium BC to see the primary traces of constructed habitats seem. It’s at Gabarn d’Escout that pits, submit holes and picket sandpits had been found throughout archaeological excavations.

New financial actions

Originally of the Neolithic Age, the useless had been buried in pits. Nevertheless it doesn’t final. From -4,500, we see new funerary monuments showing: mounds and tumulus. In Bearn, sure immediately seven recognized dolmens, together with six round Oloron-Sainte-Marie. The burials are an actual mine of data for researchers. Certainly, the cremation necropolises and the stays discovered within the pits and on the Pont-Lengthy plateau testify to the expansion of Béarn occupation originally of the First Iron Age.

On this context, a brand new financial exercise is growing. Fishing, prospecting for particular rocks, copper mining and the change of polished arduous rock axes are added to agriculture and pastoralism. The usage of Salies-de-Béarn salt started within the Bronze Age, on the finish of the third millennium BC. Metallurgy was nonetheless underdeveloped presently.

A robust character

Already in prehistory, the Bernese confirmed character. “The robust character of Béarnaise communities shines by means of of their alternative of clothes and reveals their skill to construct a dialogue of identification with their neighbors,” defined Patrice Dumontier, Vanessa Rodrigues and Laurent Callegarin within the e book. Along with the primary iron fibula, we discover among the many gadgets ornamental belt clasps, buttons, torcs, bracelets, and even necklaces. Some decorations are additionally reserved for a small a part of the group, which signifies that there are people with a privileged social standing. In Pau, a cemetery containing the richest and most various jewellery within the area was found.

Past their character, the folks of Aquitaine, together with Béarnais, have all the time been totally different. In keeping with their language, customs, legal guidelines and bodily look. Numismatics permits us to precise this individuality. Whereas north of the Garonne, gold is the primary customary and cash circulates broadly, in Aquitaine cash is the primary customary and cash actions are restricted.

All these discoveries had been made potential by the work of archaeologists, as Laurent Callegarin, a teacher-researcher on the College of Pau, explains: “We discovered tools, furnishings and websites that we didn’t know,” he explains .The excavations within the Pyrenees, the Piedmont and at Oloron-Sainte-Marie, each time there was work across the cathedral, gave us parts.

Cautious analysis has made it potential to substantiate that the realm of ​​Béarnaise skilled a number of socio-political, financial and cultural adjustments between the third century BC and the flip of the century. Fortified facilities had been constructed. Within the Pays de l’Adour, these fortified locations have a task of protection and territorial management. Amongst them, we discovered Bilaà in Lescar, L’Ermitage in Asson, but in addition Turon de Terre Rouge in Aussevielle.

Christianity of cities and nation

Just a little later, beneath the reign of Emperor Augustus (27 to 14 CE), city life lastly started to develop. Enormous investments are being made and public amenities are being created. In Lescar, along with an intensive canal and sewer community, public baths of a minimum of 1,200 m² have been constructed.

It’s on this profitable context that the Béarn conflict will strike. Navy and political problems had been attributable to the invasion of Germanic peoples just like the Visigoths. After the Gothic Battle (436-439), Visigothic teams occupied all the space. They’re charged with imperial energy to guard the area and keep order. Because of the victory of the Franks at Vouillé, in 507, they had been compelled out of Septimania (Languedoc) and in the direction of the Iberian Peninsula.

However the particular occasion on the finish of Antiquity continues to be the Christianization of cities and nation. Christian communities organized themselves and started to flourish, as evidenced by the presence of sarcophagi in Lucq-de-Béarn. If archaeologists haven’t discovered any traces of cathedrals or basilicas from this era within the space, every little thing means that the primary spiritual buildings had been constructed presently. Originally of the center ages.

Prehistory and Antiquity

The historical past of Béarn throughout Prehistory and Antiquity is thought to a big extent due to archaeological excavations. From the primary pastoral types to the primary spiritual buildings, the historical past of the area is marked by nice human developments.