Living with gods

Around the Gallo-Roman sanctuary of the Gué-de-Sciaux

Sacrificed animals and sacred meals: religious ceremonies in the Gué-de-Sciaux (Antigny)

During the first part of the 1st century AC, ceremonies regularly took place in the sanctuary, in front of the temple and its altar, near an enclosure in which some animals destined to sacrifice were penned (bullocks, sheep and pigs).

The chosen animals were presented in front of the altar before to be slaughtered; their entrails were offered to the gods and burnt. The remaining meat was cooked and eaten during collective meals or sold to the agglomeration’s inhabitants. Some pieces were also buried around the sacred edifice.

Around thirty excavations testifying of this action have been discovered in the Gué-de-Sciaux. Some of them have been dug in the ground, until 11 feet deep, set up (wooden box and floor) to receive containers and meat pieces before to be filled by all comers, and finally carefully sealed. Other pits received the remains of donations and knives symbolizing the sacrifice of animals.

The resort to vegetable presents (cakes, cereals, flowers) has not been established in the Gué-de-Sciaux, for lack of preserved clues, but the practice could have been realised.

This burying ritual has been repeated during the transformations of the sanctuary, for example at the end of the surrounding wall’s building, in the middle of the 1st century AC.

Pits from the same age have been discovered in other sanctuaries, in Biturige’s territory in Argentomagus (Saint-Marcel) in the Indre and in the Lemovices’ territory in Limoges (Haute-Vienne).