The tumuli of Seron are three Gallo-Roman tombs located north of Seron, a hamlet that is part of the communal section of Forville in Fernelmont. With an average height of 6 m and around 25 m in diameter, they are located at the intersection of rue des Tumuli and chemin de Hemptinne aux Tombes, 4.5 km south of the old Roman road called "Chaussée Brunehaut". , and have been classified as monuments since 1978 and included on the List of exceptional real estate heritage of Wallonia.
The three tumuli are listed on Ferraris' maps of 1777 (map 135Ab) as "Tombs of Buhay", while on current IGN maps (map 41/5S) they are listed as " tombs at Seron”. The southern tumulus (T1) and the central tumulus (T2) are juxtaposed and separated by about 35 meters. The third (T3) is isolated to the north. Their respective diameters are 25.25 meters for T1, 28.30 meters for T2 and 25.80 meters for T31.
The tumuli stand on the plateau of Forville culminating at 165 m. This plateau is located at the hinge between the alluvial plains of the Méhaigne to the north and the low plateaus which dominate the Meuse valley to the south. The site is remarkably visible and gives a distant view of the landscapes of Hesbaye Namur.
Some tumuli are placed along the main roads, others along secondary roads. Those of Seron stand in the countryside with no connection to a known close communication route2. They are however distributed along a dirt road and along the small road which joins the village of Meeffe to that of Forville of which Seron is one of the villages.
excavations In November 1854 and in the spring of 1855, excavations were carried out under the aegis of the Archaeological Society of Namur by its president Eugène del Marmol. The excavation of the T1 tumulus revealed nothing. On the other hand, that of the other two has made it possible to discover various objects: pottery, oil lamps, bottles, funerary urns, fragments of calcined human bones as well as a sestertius of Hadrian which made it possible to date the tombs to the 2nd century. All these objects are in the Archaeological Museum of Namur. The study of the archaeological material makes it possible to place tumulus II (in the center of the group of 3) in a chronological range going from 110 to 150, that is to say the first half of the 2nd century. The sestertius of Hadrian provides the oldest date, between 119 and 121 CE. The majority of the objects collected are found in the usual Roman tombs. The exception, however, is a few beautiful glassworks from Seron II which stand out by the artistic taste they bear witness to and their precious character. No doubt this is the sign of a higher social level2. In spite of the diversity of the found material, it is necessary to announce the presence of a “service” of twelve rooms in the tumulus of Seron II. The presence of a lamp in the same tumulus is explained by the belief of the ancients in the power of lamps: to ward off evil spirits and to enlighten the soul on its journey to the afterlife. Among the objects deposited is also a ribbed glass urn which is probably the container that contained the remains of the cremation of the deceased3.
Translated by Google •
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