Overview
- Archaeologists excavating Allonnes recovered five iron restraint elements during a 2019 dig that INRAP publicly reported on Thursday, July 9, 2026.
- The finds include a double‑wrist restraint, an ankle shackle and three other fragments that INRAP calls "extremely rare" for the period.
- Measured details show the wrist ring is about 6 cm in diameter—consistent with use on a woman or child—and the ankle shackle weighed roughly 1 kg, indicating heavy physical burden.
- The site also produced workshops, weapons and hundreds of coins spanning more than five centuries, with about a third of the coins deliberately mutilated as votive offerings in a nearby sanctuary.
- Researchers interpret the combined evidence as signposts of a hierarchical community with captive or enslaved people and say ongoing analysis will refine dating and link the Allonnes finds to regional trade, metalworking and ritual practices.