On the right banl of the Loire river, the region of Beaugency is situated in the former province of Orléanais, dismantled when départements were created. The whole area was situated in Carnutian territory (the Carnutes inhabited a vast area from the surroundings of Lutecia to the banks of the Loire). Nevertheless, humans have been inhabiting Beaugency for much longer than the Celtic era : hunter-gatherers from the Epipaleolithic left many remnants of specific microliths named "beaugenciens".
The territory of the Carnutes- Echantillon représentatif / Sample :
Taille réelle / Full Scale- Analyse anthropologique sommaire / Brief anthropological analysis :
- Type 1 : Complexion intermédiaire (cheveux de bruns à blonds, yeux parfois gris/verts, ...), leptomorphique, menton pointu, long nez implanté haut parfois convexe, oreilles décollées, yeux rapprochés
~ Atlantide
Intermediate complexion (from black to blonde hair, grey/green eyes, ...), leptomorphic, pointy chin, high-rooted and sometimes convex nose, flappy ears, close-set eyes
~ Atlantid
Ce type inscrit nettement l'Orléanais, du moins sa partie occidentale, dans la France de l'Ouest : on retrouve en effet de tels faciès depuis les rives de la Gironde jusqu'en Normandie. La série est complétée comme d'usage par des variantes de complexion moins foncée.
This type clearly anchors Orléanais - at least its western portion - into Western France : such faces are common from the shores of the Gironde estuary to Normandy. As usual, this series is completed by a lighter-complexioned one.
Enfin, certains individus, bien que leptomorphiques, annoncent par les traits secondaires (yeux éloignés, nez épaté, ...) les phénotypes présentés sous le label "Type 2".
Eventually, though leptomorphic, some individuals announce "Type 2" phenotypes because of some secondary features (wide-set eyes, puffy nose, ...).
- Type 2 : Complexion intermédiaire (cheveux châtains, yeux verts-gris, ...), brachymorphique, tête ronde ou carrée, petit nez épaté, yeux étroits et éloignés
~ Alpin
Intermediate complexion (chestnut hair, green-grey eyes, ...), brachymorphic, rounded or square-box head, little puffy nose, narrow and wide-set eyes
~ Alpinoid
C'est l'autre type de la France de l'Ouest, immuable depuis le Berry jusqu'aux confins bretons. Peut-être qu'il faut remarquer qu'il est plus particulièrement bien représenté à Beaugency. On rencontre comme toujours une variante un peu plus sombre : elle rappelle fortement les types du Poitou intérieur.
This is the second main type one can encounter in Western France, unchanged from Berry to the boundaries of Brittany. Maybe one should notice such type is quite widespread in Beaugency. Individuals a tad darker are to be found as usual : they remind us of people from inland Poitou.
- Morphotypes finaux / Final morphotypes :
To me they look pretty much "pan-European" (excepting maybe the rather unique and somewhat caricaturesque last type). Some approach more Northern European types, other those from the South but almost all are like not-here-not-there, kinda transitional.
ReplyDeleteSomewhat off topic, looking at the Carnutes' map (rather the tribes around the Carnutes than these), I was thinking how strange is that most Gallic tribes are named after their capital towns. I strongly suspect this indicates a high level of detribalization and of politization (as in "polis" or "polity") proper of La Tène culture. It's almost as if instead of talking of ancient Athens we'd talk of the Athenians, and so on.
It's a curious notion in which polities, maybe because of their primitive nature, are replaced by artificially conceived nations or tribes, which nevertheless evidence by their name the mainly political (and not truly tribal) cause of their solidarity. You see that also in Iberia but mostly among Iberians, not among Celts nor among the presumably Vascoid peoples of the Northern coast.
And when not named according to their main town, the very names of these Celtic tribes are interesting : for instance, the Petrocorii (modern Périgord) are the "four tribes" clearly hinting to the political aspect of this alliance.
ReplyDeleteAs for the people in that sample, they indeed look pan-European and "kinda transitional" though to my own eyes, such distribution is very Western French (I'll soon post a sample from Picardy : as soon as one heads North of Paris, phenotypes do change).