1,500 Years of Faith Buried Under a French Church? That’s Too Deep, Man.

今日のネタは「信仰は地層だ」って話。

いやもうさ、フランスの古い教会の修復中に、設計図にない階段が出てきたらしいんだけど、
そこからの展開が考古学ミステリー過ぎで。。。。
元々は「塩害で床がボロいから直そ〜」くらいのノリだったはずが、掘ってみたらなんと、
墓→さらに墓→さらに石棺→メロヴィング朝（西暦500年とか）という時空の旅スタート。

特にびっくりなのは、石棺の蓋にウロコ模様が彫られてるってとこ。
どう考えても初期キリスト教モチーフ。しかも教会の壁の石積みが
「オプス・スピカトゥム」ってやつで、V字型に組まれててまた風情ある。

結局さ、ローマ時代とか異教の遺跡の上に教会を建てるって、
ヨーロッパでは定番らしいんだけど、それがリアルに出てくると、
「ああ…自分の家の下にも何か眠ってんのかも」ってちょっと考えるよね。

専門家が「これは信仰と儀式のアーカイブ」って言ってたけど、
確かにその通り。信仰って、上書きされていくんじゃなくて、
積み重なっていくもんなのかも。

一般公開されるかもって話も出てるみたいだけど…行けるもんなら見に行きたい。
ただしエレベーター付きで頼む（階段多そう）。

Staircase leading into forgotten 400-year-old vault unearthed at church in France: why was it covered up in the first place?
byu/TheFedoraChronicles inArchaeology

1,500 Years of Faith Buried Under a French Church? That’s Too Deep, Man.

Today’s theme: “Faith is geological.”

So apparently, during a renovation of some old French church, the workers stumbled on a hidden staircase—not on any blueprint. What started as a boring “fix the salty floor” job turned into a full-on archaeological adventure.

They dug down and—boom—graves from the 14th to 18th century. Then more graves from the 11th century. Then deeper still… six stone sarcophagi possibly linked to the freakin’ Merovingians. That’s 1,500 years of burial history. Under one church.

And get this—one of the sarcophagus lids had a carved fish-scale pattern. A known motif in early Christianity. The walls nearby were built in “opus spicatum” style—that’s the V-shaped stonework. Very classy. Very medieval.

Turns out, building new churches on top of older pagan or Roman sites is kind of a European tradition. Still, when you see it literally layered in the ground, it hits different. Makes you wonder what’s buried under your own house, right?

One archaeologist called it a “vertical archive of faith and ritual.” Honestly, that’s poetic. Faith doesn’t erase the past—it just builds on top of it. Like sediment. Holy sediment.

They’re thinking about making it open to the public someday. If so, I’m down to visit.
As long as there’s an elevator. I’m not climbing 1,500 years’ worth of stairs.