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Early Medieval Muslim Graves in France: First Archaeological, Anthropological and Palaeogenomic Evidence

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Early Medieval Muslim Graves in France: First Archaeological, Anthropological and Palaeogenomic Evidence RESEARCH ARTICLE Early Medieval Muslim Graves in France: First Archaeological, Anthropological and Palaeogenomic Evidence Yves Gleize1,2☯*, Fanny Mendisco2☯*, Marie-Hélène Pemonge2, Christophe Hubert3, Alexis Groppi4, Bertrand Houix5,6, Marie-France Deguilloux2, Jean-Yves Breuil5,6 1 French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), Bron, France, 2 University of Bordeaux, UMR 5199 PACEA, Equipe Anthropologie des Populations Passées et Présentes, Allée Geoffroy ST Hilaire, Pessac Cedex, France, 3 University of Bordeaux, Plateforme Génome Transcriptome, Centre de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Bordeaux, Bordeaux Cedex, France, 4 University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux Bioinformatics Center (CBiB), Bordeaux Cedex, France, 5 French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), Nîmes, France, 6 UMR 5140, Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes, Lattes, France ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work. * [email protected]; [email protected] (YG); [email protected] (FM) OPEN ACCESS Abstract Citation: Gleize Y, Mendisco F, Pemonge M-H, Hubert C, Groppi A, Houix B, et al. (2016) Early The rapid Arab-Islamic conquest during the early Middle Ages led to major political and cul- Medieval Muslim Graves in France: First tural changes in the Mediterranean world. Although the early medieval Muslim presence in Archaeological, Anthropological and Palaeogenomic Evidence. PLoS ONE 11(2): e0148583. doi:10.1371/ the Iberian Peninsula is now well documented, based in the evaluation of archeological and journal.pone.0148583 historical sources, the Muslim expansion in the area north of the Pyrenees has only been Editor: Luca Bondioli, Museo Nazionale Preistorico documented so far through textual sources or rare archaeological data. Our study provides Etnografico 'L. Pigorini', ITALY the first archaeo-anthropological testimony of the Muslim establishment in South of France Received: June 26, 2015 through the multidisciplinary analysis of three graves excavated at Nimes. First, we argue in favor of burials that followed Islamic rites and then note the presence of a community prac- Accepted: January 19, 2016 ticing Muslim traditions in Nimes. Second, the radiometric dates obtained from all three Published: February 24, 2016 human skeletons (between the 7th and the 9th centuries AD) echo historical sources docu- Copyright: © 2016 Gleize et al. This is an open menting an early Muslim presence in southern Gaul (i.e., the first half of 8th century AD). access article distributed under the terms of the Finally, palaeogenomic analyses conducted on the human remains provide arguments in Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any favor of a North African ancestry of the three individuals, at least considering the paternal medium, provided the original author and source are lineages. Given all of these data, we propose that the skeletons from the Nimes burials credited. belonged to Berbers integrated into the Umayyad army during the Arab expansion in North Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are Africa. Our discovery not only discusses the first anthropological and genetic data concern- within the paper and its Supporting Information files. ing the Muslim occupation of the Visigothic territory of Septimania but also highlights the Funding: This study benefitted from excavation grant complexity of the relationship between the two communities during this period. support from the city of Nîmes, France (INRAP; FB11045601). The paleogenomic analyses were made possible by funding from the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; PEPS APEGE) and from the Research National Agency as a program of prospects investments ANR-10-LABX- 52 (CAP project; dir. MFD; University of Bordeaux, LaScArBx-ANR; 2012–2014). The funders had no PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0148583 February 24, 2016 1/13 Multidisciplinary Study of Ancient Muslim Graves in France role in study design, data collection and analysis, Introduction decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The rapid expansion of the Arab Empire during the Muslim conquests resulted in the forma- Competing Interests: The authors have declared tion of one of the most important empires in world history, extending from the west bank of that no competing interests exist. the river Indus to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean (Fig 1). The Arab-Muslim expansion repre- sented a major politico-religious change during the early Middle Ages in the Mediterranean region. In the western part of the Mediterranean, Arab armies expanded quickly across North Africa and incorporated numerous native Berbers populations, which rapidly adopted the Islamic religion and represented the bulk of Muslim troops who later conquered Southwest Europe [1–4]. The Umayyad army invaded the Iberian Peninsula via North Africa in 711 AD and rapidly conquered the Visigothic kingdom, which, from the 5th to the 8th centuries AD, spread across what are now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula. Their arrival led to a cultural transformation and substantially modified relations between Western European soci- eties that were being reorganized after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The Muslim occupation of Spain and Portugal is well-documented by abundant written and archeological sources that carefully traced the history of al-Andalus between the 8th and the 15th centuries AD [1–2]. In the funerary context, archeological data have highlighted peculiar burial practices that clearly correspond to Muslim practices [5–8]. Interestingly, these specific practices (including, for example, the systematic deposit of bodies on the right-hand side and oriented toward Mecca) demonstrate that Islamic-style graves appear to have persisted from the medie- val period to the present day [9–10]. Finally, the medieval population in al-Andalus has also been genetically documented through the analysis of human remains originating from three archeological sites in Andalusia and dating to the 12th-13th centuries [11], more than 500 years after the conquest. Although this study doesn’t document the first Muslim occupation, the data provide persuasive evidence of an African maternal contribution in this historic sam- ple (20% of mitochondrial lineages), a contribution that is, interestingly, still seen in the extant populations of the region (at lower frequencies, however; [12]). In contrast, the Muslim presence beyond the Pyrenees is far less documented, which is likely linked to a brief occupation period (Fig 1). The Umayyad army crossed the eastern Pyrenees in approximately 719 AD. Far from the standard depiction of the famous Battle of Poitiers (or of Fig 1. Map of the Arab empire extension and zoom on the Septimania and the north-western Arabic raids. (Infography G. Devilder adapted from [13]). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148583.g001 PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0148583 February 24, 2016 2/13 Multidisciplinary Study of Ancient Muslim Graves in France Tours; 732 AD) that saw Charles Martel lead his Frankish troops to victory over the Umayyad Caliphate army, a far more complex historical account exists beyond what is found through the study of textual sources [14–16]. Notably, certain medieval chronicles (e.g., the chronicle of Moissac) redraw the passage of “Saracens” and highlight the presence of Islamic populations or garrisons in the Visigothic territory of Septimania (in southern France) involving alliances with and protection of the local population, sometimes against a common enemy from the North, i.e., the Franks [13, 17–18]. In 720 AD, Narbonne (under the name of Arbûna) became the seat of a wâli (governor) and was used as a base for razzias. In 759 AD, Pippin the Younger besieged Narbonne, which soon capitulated, and in 760 AD, the Franks took Septimania. The Islamic presence in Septimania is archeologically documented only by rare ceramics, Arabic coins [19–21] or seals [22]. Nevertheless, these rare materials do not allow for a distinc- tion between trade, travel by Muslim troops or long-term settlements. If written sources indi- cate that the “Saracens” were able to stay in Septimania for several decades, at this point, we have been ignoring all data regarding the nature of this occupation. The discovery in 2006 of three Muslim burials in Nimes (Languedoc-Roussillon, France) immediately appeared as a unique opportunity to document the “Saracen” settlement in the South of France. A multidisci- plinary study was then developed combining (i) archaeological analyses to characterize the site funerary practices, to determine the burials dating, and to discuss the burials' integration in the Nimes funerary context, (ii) anthropological analyses to test the potential attribution of the individuals to Arab army soldiers (through sex and age individuals' characterization, and through the search of potential osteological evidence of combat) and (iii) palaeogenomic analy- ses to provide biological arguments concerning individuals' origins. The multidisciplinary anal- yses conducted on these burials offer new data concerning the Muslim occupation in the Visigothic territory of Septimania, unraveling the complex relationship between early medieval western and Arab-Muslim societies. Material and Methods Excavation In 2006–2007, preventive excavations led by the French National Institute for Preventive Archeology (INRAP) in the western periphery of the medieval town of Nimes (situated on the present-day Avenue
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