更新于：2026年3月18日 / 美国东部时间上午11:18 / CBS/法新社
法国东部一所小学的孩子们本周在操场旁发现了一个奇怪的新“景点”：一具直立的骨架从一个圆形土坑顶部探出。
这只是第戎市近期发现的一系列神秘“坐姿西向”尸体中的最新一例。
科学家们正试图弄清楚，这个几乎未被研究的高卢人族群为何选择以这种不寻常的方式埋葬部分死者——甚至这些男子在埋葬时是否仍活着。
最新发现的骨架保存异常完好，位于第戎市中心约瑟夫·贝克小学旁。
与本月早些时候在附近出土的另外四具骨架类似，它直立于一个宽1米的土坑底部。
骨架的双手放在大腿上，背部贴着东墙，目光朝西。
![图片说明：2026年3月17日拍摄的照片显示，法国东部第戎市中心的考古发掘现场露出了高卢人墓葬群。Frédéric BOURIGAULT /法新社/盖蒂图片社]
据法国国家预防性考古研究所（INRAP）称，去年在同一建筑工地附近约20米处发现了另外13具高卢人骨架，这些尸体可追溯至公元前300年至200年。
当时，INRAP表示，部分骨架有“未愈合的暴力痕迹，无疑表明是故意杀害”。
该研究所写道：“其中一人头部被利器（剑？）击打过两次。”
过去三十年的考古发现
过去三十年的考古发掘表明，第戎曾是高卢人的重要聚居地。这个神秘的凯尔特族群因法国漫画《阿斯特里克斯与奥贝利克斯》而广为人知。
高卢人约在公元前5世纪出现，分布于今日法国、比利时、瑞士及更远的东欧地区。
除了他人的记载，我们对其文化知之甚少。这些记载可能带有偏见，比如罗马皇帝尤利乌斯·凯撒在公元前50年征服高卢人时的记录。
是奖励还是惩罚？
包括1992年的早期发现在内，第戎市中心一小区域内已发现约20座“坐姿高卢人”墓葬，占全球已知坐姿高卢人墓葬总数（75座）的四分之一以上。其他类似墓葬也在法国、瑞士和英国被发现。
法国考古研究所INRAP研究员雷吉斯·拉博诺表示，最新发现“尤为令人印象深刻”。
“从发现的数量和质量来看，可以确定第戎曾有大规模高卢人聚居。”他对法新社说。
然而，许多问题仍悬而未决：这种怪异的埋葬方式是对犯错者的惩罚，还是对权贵的奖励？
这些人是否被献祭给神灵以祈求丰收？或是被敌军士兵埋葬以威慑其他高卢人反抗？
还有一个谜团：他们是否是被活埋的？
INRAP考古人类学家安娜玛丽亚·拉特朗告诉《世界报》：“这种坐姿是非典型的。我们通常看到的是仰躺的姿势，下肢伸展而非弯曲。”
除了一枚可追溯至高卢时期的臂环外，第戎出土的骨架中未发现任何个人物品或装饰品。
除1992年发现的一名儿童外，其余均为男性，身高在1.62-1.82米之间。
他们的牙齿保存完好，“可能是因为他们不食用糖分”，拉特朗说。
“骨骼显示出骨关节炎的痕迹，表明他们进行过大量体力活动，尤其是腿部。”
“这是一份非常令人沮丧的职业”
那么，他们为何以这种怪异方式埋葬？
“我们尚无定论。”拉特朗强调。
“我们缺少墓葬上方的地表层，”她补充道，“作为考古学家，这确实是一份令人沮丧的职业。”
动物献祭的线索
1990年代在该遗址附近发现了28只狗、5只羊和2头猪的尸体，这些动物遗骸可追溯至高卢晚期，“似乎与祭祀仪式有关”，INRAP称。
现代法语中仍保留着高卢人的语言痕迹，如“国家”（pays）和“异教”（païen）等词。
INRAP主席多米尼克·加西亚指出，鉴于“法国三分之二的省会城市有高卢人起源”，呼吁人们更多关注这一族群。
Children discover mysterious ancient skeleton sitting upright next to playground in France
Updated on: March 18, 2026 / 11:18 AM EDT / CBS/AFP
Children at a primary school in eastern France found a strange new attraction next to their playground this week: a skeleton sitting upright, peeking out the top of a circular pit.
It is just the latest in a series of bodies discovered in the city of Dijon that were mysteriously buried in a seated position while facing west.
Scientists are trying to work out why the ancient and little-understood Gaul people chose to bury some of its dead in this unusual manner — and whether the men were still alive at the time.
The latest skeleton, which is remarkably well-preserved, was found next to the Josephine Baker primary school in the heart of Dijon.
Similar to four others unearthed nearby earlier this month, it is sitting upright at the bottom of a one-meter-wide pit.
The skeleton’s hands are resting in its lap. Like the others, its back is against the eastern wall, its gaze directed westward.
This photograph taken on March 17, 2026 shows an archeological dig site revealing gallic (Gaulois) burial sites in central Dijon, central-eastern France. Frédéric BOURIGAULT /AFP via Getty Images
Last year, 13 other Gallic skeletons were discovered around 20 meters away at the same construction site, according to the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP). The bodies are believed to date from around 300 to 200 BC.
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At the time, INRAP said some of the skeletons had “unhealed marks of violence, undoubtedly indicative of intentional killing.”
“One of them received two blows to the skull from a sharp object (sword?)” the institute wrote.
Over the last three decades, archaeological digs have revealed that Dijon was once a special place for the Gauls, an enigmatic Celtic group of people perhaps best known for the popular French comic “Asterix and Obelix”.
The Gauls first emerged in roughly the fifth century BC, spreading over swathes of modern-day France, Belgium, Switzerland and farther east.
Little is known about their culture beyond the writings of others. These can be biased, such as what was recorded by the Roman emperor Julius Caesar, who conquered the Gauls in 50 BC.
Prize or punishment?
Including earlier discoveries in 1992, around 20 tombs with sitting Gauls have been discovered in a small area of Dijon’s city centre.
That is more than a quarter of the 75 tombs featuring sitting Gauls identified worldwide. Other sites have been found in France, Switzerland and the U.K.
Regis Labeaune, a researcher at the French archaeological institute INRAP, said the latest bodies were “particularly impressive discoveries.”
“Given the number and quality of these discoveries, we can say there was a significant Gallic settlement in Dijon,” he told AFP.
However there is much that remains unknown. Was this bizarre burial a punishment for people who had done wrong — or a prize for the powerful?
Could these people have been sacrificed to their gods in hopes of a better harvest? Or buried by enemy soldiers to discourage other Gauls from fighting?
Another mystery is whether they were buried alive.
“This seated position is atypical,” INRAP archaeo-anthropologist Annamaria Latron told Le Monde. “We are more used to burials of reclining individuals, in general on their backs, with the lower limbs extended and not bent like this.”
Except for one armband which dates the settlement to the Gallic period, no personal belongings or ornaments were found among the Dijon bodies.
There were all men, measuring between 1.62-1.82 meters tall, except for a child discovered in 1992.
Their teeth were very well-preserved over the years, “probably because they did not know about sugar,” Latron said.
“Their bones display traces of osteoarthritis, suggesting intense physical activity,” particularly in their legs, she said.
“A very frustrating profession”
So why were they buried in this bizarre way?
“We do not have a preferred hypothesis,” Latron emphasized.
“We’re missing the surface layer, which was above the tombs,” she said.
“Being an archaeologist can be a very frustrating profession,” she added with a smile.
This photograph taken on March 17, 2026 shows an archeological dig site revealing gallic (Gaulois) burial sites in central Dijon, central-eastern France. Frédéric BOURIGAULT /AFP via Getty Images
The bodies of 28 dogs, five sheep and two pigs were found near the site in the 1990s. The carcasses appear to date from the late Gallic period and “seem to correspond to sacrificial practices,” according to INRAP.
There are still remnants of the Gauls in the modern French language, including the words for country and paganism, INRAP president Dominique Garcia pointed out.
He called for more attention to be paid to the Gauls, given that two-thirds of France’s “prefectures have Gallic origins, according to archaeology.”
