Archaeologists have discovered a Middle Ages burial on the spot where the old chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu was located. Ceramic pots were also found.
The discovery surprised passers-by but not the archaeologists of Chartres Métropole: a few steps from the Café bleu, an entire skeleton was unearthed as part of the preventive excavations carried out for the construction site around the cathedral.
“At this location was the old Hôtel-Dieu, which served as a hospital in medieval times,” explains Aude Bailles, archaeologist from the C’Chartres archeology department. “Around twenty graves were discovered in 2023 in a trench during work on the drinking water network. We expected to find more.”
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In 2024, several mixed human bones were unearthed in burial pits, which were “probably dug during the demolition of the Hôtel-Dieu chapel in 1868”, specifies Aude Bailles.
Canon or donor?
It was by digging a little deeper that the archaeologists found a burial where the old chapel was: an entire skeleton with remains of a wooden coffin, nails probably used to close it and ceramic pots next to or in the coffin.
“According to the style of the ceramics, the burial would date from the 13th or 14th century. One of the ceramics, pierced, certainly served as a censer.”
Aude Bailles (Archaeologist)
It is difficult to know more about the identity of the dead man. “Perhaps a canon or a donor to the Hôtel-Dieu,” suggests Aude Bailles. “Two other entire skeletons were also unearthed but without traces of a coffin.”
The three burials were probably superimposed on each other. “Were buried in the chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu important people for the Hôtel-Dieu,” underlines Aude Bailles. “There was a cemetery not far away for the rest of the population.”
A sarcophagus from the Merovingian era opened in the Saint-Martin-au-Val church in Chartres
All of the discoveries were transported to the archaeologists’ laboratory so that they could continue their research. Everything will then be transferred to the archaeological repository and returned to the State as archaeological remains.
The style of the ceramics found is characteristic of the 13th or 14th century.
Laurence Franceschina
