Un »cold case« irritant: les mandibules humaines de la Grotte de Han à Han-sur-Lesse (Rochefort, prov. Namur / BE)

Abstract

An Irritating Cold Case: The Human Mandibles from the Han Cave at Han-sur-Lesse (Rochefort, Prov. Namur / BE)

During excavations carried out in 1964–1965 by M.-E. Mariën on the Plage des Petites Fontaines of the Cave of Han, at Han-sur-Lesse (Belgium), a deposit of seven human mandibles was discovered in a level attributed to the Late Iron Age. From the outset, these remains were considered as belonging to severed heads, but only on the basis of a preliminary examination made shortly after the discovery. Until now, though, it had never been validated by a detailed analysis. Furthermore, a series of direct radiocarbon dating, carried out in the early 2000s, seemed to indicate that they date from different times ranging from the Middle La Tène to the early Roman period, hence a post-Iron Age deposit.

The in-depth study of the mandibles that we conducted firstly shows that, even if the preliminary examination was largely erroneous, several of them do bear marks attesting to decapitations, thus confirming what was presumed. On the other hand, some of them display thermal damage, which probably testifies to the fact that the heads had been exposed to fire, complete and still with their flesh on them. At the same time, a new series of radiocarbon analyses has been carried out, the results of which are partially in contradiction with those of the previous analyses, leading to question all the dating. It is therefore neither possible to affirm that the mandibles are of different ages, nor to directly date their deposition, which would have taken place in La Tène C or D, if we rely on the field data. Several arguments favour the deposition of only the mandibles carried out at one time and shortly after death. We know nothing about the fate of the rest of the heads, but there is no indication that they were ever brought into the cave. Lastly, although the deposit probably had a cultic dimension, no more can be said about its significance. Finally, despite a few certainties, this still unique, intriguing discovery continues to resist interpretation.