update: graveyard under my house is so yesterday

  from David Armano’s visual thinking archive 

 

mayor says: get over it, france’s progress shall not be thwarted

After all the hype of archeologists descending on my village to carbon date and measure piles of graves of Merovingian warriors, we were surprised to learn that the mayor would have none of it. The mayor stopped the archeology. He said that dawdling and fawning over the graves would put the town’s natural gas project in jeopardy. He basically said, “is anyone really surprised to discover the graves given the village’s rich ancient history? I’m no expert, but it doesn’t seem like an important discovery in the grand scheme of things. What are we supposed to do, tear down all the houses to excavate?”  He’s got a point.  

So now I visualize pulsing veins of gas, water and electricity coursing through a graveyard… carrying with it the whispers and intentions of the dead the pipes have penetrated. Now each sip and jolt may be media for messages. Care for some Eau d’Esprit anyone? Les poltergeistes sont arrivés.

context: the world in c.AD500-800 when the sarcophagi under my house were buried

 AD500-800 period from The Wall Chart of World History by Edward Hull, originally published in 1890, which depicts the history of mankind from BC4000. I used the entire map showing world history from BC4000 to present as a 40ft wall graphic in the Trade Routes exhibition room in the Gold of Africa Museum.

my c.AD1500 house built on c.AD600 necropolis…sweet!

(Loire Valley, France) I just learned that my home in France, which was built during the Renaissance period as part of the Abbey of Pontlevoy, happens to be located directly on top of a 7th century Merovingian graveyard.  On my doorstep (literally) the French have uncovered 11 stone sarcophagi containing bones and relics from the Merovingian period (c.AD 500-AD 751). The discovery was made last week as the street in front of my house was being excavated to lay pipes for natural gas.

For those fans of the movie The Matrix, you might recall the character (i.e., computer program  within the Matrix) named The Merovingian, also called The Frenchman. He was one of the few entities able to directly manipulate the code which creates the Matrix. His persona was of a French bon-vivant who took pleasure in vulgar banter and carnal pleasures.

The Merovingians are also extensively featured in one of my favorite books The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a book which was the inspiration for Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code; you may recall the main character, Sophie, discovers that she is a descendant of the Merovingian blood line as well as Jesus Christ.  

In addition, the word “Merovingian” was used repeatedly as an adjective (as in barbaric) in Marcel Proust‘s Swann’s Way (originally published as Du côté de chez Swann in 1931). More on this later….

Mon Dieu!