Abstract

1The site of Chantemerle in Gerzat is located in the plain of the «Limagne des Marais», north of Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme), in a previously floodable area. The establishment of seven funerary enclosures and 72 graves, at the beginning of the Bronze Age, testifies to the constitution of a genuine necropolis which the living and the dead frequented for nearly six centuries. The funerary structures are cut into flood deposit layers which have in turn fossilized them. Possible soil levels have mostly been eroded, and with them the probable covering systems of the main graves. The necropolis, whose graves develop around one oval and six circular enclosures, spread over an area of about 6000 m2, delivered the human bone remains of 83 buried individuals. Its architectural and funerary history has been analysed using 37 radiocarbon dates. Seven main phases, between 2100 and 1500 BC have been identified. This is coupled with a very small number of overlaps between the features. The