Pique à broche

Ritualized violence

Camong the Gallic peoples, as in many other civilizations, animal sacrifice was an integral part of religious practices. This spit, discovered during the excavation of a Latin sanctuary (between the 5th and 1st centuries BC) near Niort, attests to this. The discovery of this object near a deposit of animal bones allows us to assume its role in the ritual cooking of the sacrificial meat, shared between the participants in the rite and the deity or deities whose favor is sought. If the sacrifice can today be assimilated to an act of pure violence, it was then considered essential to obtain the benevolence of the deities and thus to maintain the balance of the community and the world. In Gaul, this rite remained practiced throughout the Roman period and then gradually disappeared during the last centuries of antiquity, as part of profound religious mutations.

A spike with a spit that is characterized by a circular section iron ending in a point. The handle ends in a ring. This type differs from the spits used in the late La Tène period characterized by flat irons ending in a ring. It is related to the massive deposit of animal bones discovered nearby, which underlines its essential role in sacrifices.