Archaeologists have found shackles in France that are about 2.3 thousand years old.
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- Archaeologists have found shackles in France that are about 2.3 thousand years old.
Archaeologists have discovered on the territory of the ancient settlement of Allon in the Loire Valley five iron devices that could have been used to hold slaves or captives about 2.3 thousand years ago. This was reported on July 13 in the journal Live Science.
The finds were made back in 2019 during a two-year excavation of a large Gallic settlement and a nearby religious complex. The settlement existed in the II–I centuries BC and was located at the intersection of important trade routes.
Archaeologists have discovered workshops of blacksmiths, coppersmiths and bronze casters, as well as swords, spearheads, keys and elements of horse harness. Among the metal objects were double wrist shackles, a foot shackle and three fragments of other restraints.
Such objects are extremely rarely preserved in the archaeological strata of pre-Roman Gaul. According to experts, they could be used to hold prisoners of war, convicts, debtors or people enslaved.
"The discovery of shackles and weapons indicates a hierarchical social organization that included dominant and subordinate groups, such as captives or slaves," said Thierry Lejeune, a specialist in Celtic metalwork.
The diameter of one of the wrist devices was about 6 cm. The researchers suggested that it could have been intended for a woman or a child. The leg shackle weighed more than 1 kg, which makes it possible to imagine the physical exertion that a shackled person was constantly forced to endure.
The findings support the hypothesis that Allon may have been involved in the trade of captives and slaves. However, the shackles themselves do not yet allow us to accurately determine the scale of this activity or determine whether they were used to sell people, punish or force labor. A religious sanctuary, jewelry and hundreds of coins were also found on the territory of the settlement.
About a third of the coins were intentionally incised, sawn or deformed. According to archaeologists, in this way the object was deprived of a commercial function and turned into an offering to the gods. Excavations provide rare information about people who are almost not represented in written sources. The Gallic tribes did not leave detailed descriptions of their own slavery, so material evidence remains one of the few ways to study the lives of the most disenfranchised members of their society.
On July 13, Arkeonews reported the discovery of a Roman statue of the Hero's guardian spirit in the UK. Archaeologists found it under the floor of a barracks of the late Roman period in the fortress of the Vindolanda camp. The age of the artifact exceeds 1.6 thousand years. According to archaeologists, the statue has been preserved in excellent condition due to the protective layer of masonry above it.
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