Archaeology of Roman Gaul

How did the ‘Fall of the Roman Empire’ change social and economic networks in eastern Gaul, and how did new ‘barbarian’ political frontiers shape those changes? Synthesising historical and archaeological approaches, this interdisciplinary study combines text-based prosopography with distribution analysis of ceramics and ‘pseudo-imperial’ coins in Burgundy and beyond. The study reveals that the frontiers of the second Burgundian kingdom (5th-6th centuries) curtailed traditional movements along one of Europe’s key riverine corridors and reshaped, temporarily, the mental geographies imagined by local Gallo-Romans, until Merovingian princes conquered the region. The book includes the most thorough assessment to date of the distribution of Burgundian coins found across France. Illuminating the Burgundian kingdom’s internal dynamics and its foreign relations, this assessment revises current understandings of the circulation of gold money across sixth-century Gaul, correcting over-generalisations that can obscure the importance of political frontiers at the end of antiquity.

Throughout history, the Druids have always been seen as sorcerers who had a strong bond with nature. Ancestral knowledge holders within Celtic society, directed all religious activity as the highest authority linked to the gods, practiced human sacrifices and festivals organized as Imbolc, Beltaine, Lugnasad or Samain, etc.. all aspects of which are discussed in this article.

Documentation of the late cities of the Aedui and Chalon allows study of several aspects of the burial practices in the central section of the province of Lugdunensis I at the end of Antiquity. This paper proposes a typology of funerary monuments and burial practices as well as an analysis of the development of urban funerary topography. Certain arrangements seem to have been characteristic of Late Antiquity, such as lead sarcophagi or coffins and wooden boxing made without the use of nails. It seems that some dispositions derived mainly from urban contexts (epitaphs, lead coffins). During the 4th century, funerary deposits continued practices from the end of the Early Empire before disappearing in the 5th century. In the best documented agglomerations (Autun and Chalon), most of the Early Empire burial grounds continued to be used in the 4th century but were gradually replaced by new graveyards apparently created in the second half of the 3rd century.

Die Dokumentation der spätantiken civitates der Haeduer und der Stadt Chalon erlaubenes, mehrere Aspekte der damaligen Bestattungssitten im Zentrum der Lugdunensis prima zu untersuchen. Dieser Beitrag schlägt eine Typologie der Grabmonumente und der unterschiedlichen Bestattungsformen vor sowie eine Analyse der Entwicklung der Bestattungstopographie im urbanen Umfeld. Einige Bestattungsformen scheinen für die Spätantike bezeichnend zu sein, wie z.B. Sarkophage oder Bleisärge und unvernagelte Holzkisten. Es stellt sich heraus, dass bestimmte Formen hauptsächlich urbanen Kontexten zuzuordnen sind (Gedenktafeln, Bleisärge). Die Bestattungsformen vom Ende der frühen Kaiserzeit bestehen bis in das 4. Jahrhundert weiter, bevor sie im 5. Jahrhundert verschwinden. In den am besten dokumentierten Ortschaften (Autun und Chalon) werden die meisten Nekropolen der frühen Kaiserzeit im 4. Jahrhundert weiterbelegt, doch sie verfallen zunehmend und werden schließlich zugunsten neuer Nekropolen aufgegeben, deren Gründung wohl in die zweite Hälfte des 3. Jahrhunderts einzuordnen ist.

For know the controversial history of the Druids in the Celtic world, will investigate the sources of its origin, through stories of classic texts and medieval legends of Gaul, Britain and Ireland. His role in Celtic society surpassed the religious sphere, covering war, politics, medicine and the law. Almost unknown is the participation of women in this institution.

For the first time, this PhD thesis offers a systematic presentation of the excavations at Bitburg (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany) since 1889. The aim is to show the settlement genesis of the site from the 1st to the 5th century AD. The analysis of features and finds sheds light on the transformation from the vicus to the late Roman fortification. Bitburg is one of the best preserved late Roman fortifications north of the Alps. This study offers further insights into construction, reconstruction, dating and function of Late Antique fortifications in Northeast Gaul. The finds of 5th century date are of great importance for the continuity discussion between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.

Cette thèse de doctorat a pour objectif d’identifier entre le second Âge du Fer et le haut Moyen Âge les occupations et les activités humaines d’un territoire de marge aux confins des cités arvernes, vellaves et ségusiaves, le Livradois-Forez, puis d’apporter des éléments de réflexion sur leur intégration régionale. Elle est menée dans une perspective dynamique, diachronique et systémique. Cette approche d’archéologie du paysage met au centre des préoccupations les relations entre les sociétés et leur milieu, et tout particulièrement l’économie. Cette recherche est volontairement à la croisée de l’archéologie et des sciences de l’environnement afin de mieux cerner le milieu dans lequel les sociétés passées ont évolué et les éventuelles influences humaines sur celui-ci, mais aussi d’identifier les processus socio-économiques et culturels.
Cette recherche a nécessité une approche en trois étapes : intégrer les travaux et les synthèses développés dans le cadre de programmes de recherche auxquels je participe ; établir une synthèse des données archéologiques ; acquérir de nouvelles données par des prospections archéologiques et des analyses des macrorestes végétaux en milieu tourbeux. L’utilisation de quatre fenêtres d’études, reflet des différentes entités paysagères, a été privilégiée. Autant qu’il fut possible, chaque fenêtre comportait des prospections archéologiques et des données paléoenvironnementales.
Le croisement des données archéologiques, paléoécologiques, géoarchéologiques et l’utilisation d’un SIG ont permis d’identifier une hétérogénéité du développement qu’il faut replacer dans deux cycles économiques : le premier du second Âge du Fer au Haut-Empire, le second du Bas-Empire au haut Moyen Âge.
Pour chaque cycle, les occupations humaines et les mises en valeur du milieu reflètent des stratégies et des choix socio-économiques : le relief et son climat, les ressources disponibles (agricoles mais aussi vraisemblablement le bois et la présence de minerai), la proximité de voies de communication, de bassins de peuplement importants et des différents centres des trois cités. Chaque nouvelle étape dans la mise en valeur des terroirs est accompagnée par une hausse de l’érosion, la mise en place de tourbières et de modifications dans le fonctionnement des tourbières plus anciennes.
Enfin, cet espace semble être intégré à l’économie régionale.
The purpose of this thesis is to identify human occupation and exploitation of the environment of marginal territories in the Livradois-Forez, which include the cities of Arverne, Segusiave, and Vellave, and to investigate the regional integration of these localities from the second Iron Age to the Early Middle Age. This thesis is conducted from a dynamic, diachronic, and systemic perspective, and utilizes a landscape archaeology approach to explore the relations between societies, in particular their economies, and the environment. The research presented crosses archaeology and the environmental sciences in order to increase knowledge of the setting in which these societies evolved and the possible human influences on it, but it also identifies social-economic and cultural processes.
The completion of this project required three stages: first, the integration of research and syntheses developed from research programs in which I collaborated; second, the synthesis of the archaeological data; third, the acquisition of new data through archaeological field surveys and through the analysis of plant macrofossils from peatlands. Four sectors that reflect key components of the landscape have been used. As far as possible, research in each sector included archaeological surveys and paleoenvironmental research.
Interdisciplinary archaeological, paleoecological, and geoarchaeological studies, combined with GIS, exhibit a heterogenous development that can be seen in two economic cycles: the first, from the Second Iron Age to the High Roman Empire; the second, from the Late Roman Empire to the Early Middle Age.
For each economic cycle, human land use and the exploitation of the environment reflect strategies and social-economic choices driven by topography, climate, and available resources (particularly agricultural resources, but also the presence of wood and ore). The proximity of routes of communication reflects important pools of population and the centers of the three cities. Each stage of environmental exploitation is marked by an increase of erosion, peat initiation, and changes in the use of the oldest peatland.
Finally, this border area seems to be integrated into the regional economy.

Coin moulds of the 3rd century in the collections of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz

The 43 coin moulds from the collection of the RGZM were used to cast denarii of the period from Antoninus Pius to Caracalla (141-217). They belong to a larger assemblage of coin moulds which came to light before 1950 at an unknown site. The composition of other forgers’ mould finds from the western provinces shows that the main casting phase of the Antonine and the Severan dynasties occurred between 240
and 270. The moulds from the RGZM, too, which do not reflect a fair picture of the original inventory, could date to this period.
The counterfeiters took advantage of the end of the regular minting of denarii after 240 and concentrated more on casting these coins with a copper-tin alloy with silver appearance. As denarii became rarer around
260-270, the forgers more and more took the antoninianus coined in large numbers in the official mints as a model. During the great inflation period of the 270ies coin forgery seems to have decreased in favour
of the production of imitations. The abundant coinage of imitations of antoniniani was meant to cover the increased need of coins.

VITTIMULA-SAN SECONDO AND THE INVENTION OF THE ICTIMULI (O VITTIMULI)

In two previous publications (2000 and 2004) a lot of evidence had been brought to support the non-existence of the pre-Roman Ictimuli (or Vittimuli) population, supported by many authors and by officials of the Archaeological Superintendency of Piedmont, and it is clarified that the classical authors they referred not to a population but to a village.  This one was  recognized in  San Secondo of Salussola, near which gold mines were cultivated leaving the remains visible in today's Bessa region, in the Biella territory.

Faced with the resistance of some nostalgic authors, who still share deductions and inventions that contrast with what is written by classical authors,  the topic is resumed and deepened with other arguments and evidence. The archaeological remains of the San Secondo locality, as well as the historical testimonies, ancient and medieval, are listed and discussed, highlighting the modern distortions. The homonymous Roman inscription is examined and discussed, assuming its origin from Ivrea and, in any case, excluding that it can be attributed to a local ponderarium linked to gold mines. The tradition of Saint Secundus local cult is critically analyzed and discussed. The modern authors who support the existence of the Ictimuli, as  gold miners or as an ancient population, are listed, discussed and discredited.

Mots-clés. Transition urbaine, urbanisme, acculturation, Sud-Ouest.
Résumé. Les recherches archéologiques récentes permettent de s’interroger sur les conditions d’apparition de deux capitales de cités du sud-ouest de la Gaule : Toulouse et Auch. Ces villes succèdent à un centre de pouvoir indigène qui, dans les deux cas, est abandonné après avoir emprunté la voie d’une certaine forme d’acculturation urbaine après la Conquête. Cette dernière prend la forme d’une mutation de l’architecture et des formes d’habitat. Ainsi, on observe non seulement l’adoption de techniques de constructions italiques mais aussi de modèles architecturaux et esthétiques. La situation change au tournant de l’ère avec la création de capitales, dont le programme urbanistique répond aux nouvelles exigences juridiques et administratives issues des réformes augustéennes.
Keywords. Urban transition, urbanism, acculturation, Southwestern Gaul.
Abstract. The recent archaeological researches lead us to wonder about the circumstances of the birth of two chief-towns in Southwestern Gaul: Toulouse and Auch. Both these towns succeeded an indigenous center of power, abandoned after going through some kind of urban acculturation after the Conquest. The latter is taking the shape of architectural and housing changes. Thus we can notice Italian building techniques are adopted, as well as esthetical and architectural models. The situation changes at the beginning of the Christian era, with the creation of capitals whose urbanistic program respond to the new administrative and legal requirements of the Augustan reforms.
Translation : Cécile Tuarze

The paper deals with several categories of archaeological features occurring in Roman funerary contexts: cremation areas, postholes, single pyre debris pits, pits filled with other material. The available evidence is discussed in the first part of the paper, while the second part focuses on the analytical potential of these features for future research into provincial roman burial practice. They deserve as much attention as the graves themselves as they allow insights into stages and aspects of the funerary process that cannot be observed through the graves. The final part of the paper presents the case-study of the gallo-roman cemetery of Septfontaines-Dëckt  (Luxembourg). For the first time it has been possible here to compare the material from the graves with that from the pyre site. the study reveals that the objects encountered in the graves are not representative  for all the objects involved in the funerary process, neither in terms of quantity or quality nor in terms of function.

Le chaudron d’abondance du dieu-druide irlandais Dagda aiguise depuis longtemps la curiosité des Celtisants amateurs et ceux plus académiques. La rareté, tout autant que le caractère tardif et christianisé des sources mythologiques y faisant référence, ont fait qu’aucune étude d’envergure n’avait été consacrée jusqu’ici à cet attribut divin et à la signification qu’il recouvrait dans la pensée religieuse gaélique préchrétienne, et plus particulièrement au sein de la théologie du dieu Dagda.
  Valéry Raydon tente de combler cette lacune à l’aide de la méthode structurale et comparative dumézilienne. Relevant la qualité de la source de référence sur ce chaudron, une notice tenant lieu à la fois de théogonie, de sociogenèse divine, et de récit étiologique sur l’origine de la souveraineté irlandaise, il restitue la place de ce chaudron à l’intérieur du système panthéiste goïdélique et met en lumière le réseau complexe d’éléments symboliques codi-fiant le motif mythologique de cet attribut divin. Il n’était pas seulement une marmite au contenu alimentaire inexhaustible, mais un vaissel faisant l’objet d’une curieuse association avec l’élément marin et un talisman de souveraineté. Et il avait pour mission de remplir un office social particulier : assurer le service alimentaire des banquets royaux célébrant les grandes fêtes d’ouverture des saisons du calendrier préchrétien par lequel le roi des dieux Túatha Dé Dánann montrait sa compétence à nourrir l’ensemble de la population irlandaise. L’authenticité et l’ancienneté de la tradition transmise tardivement est démontrée à la fois par la concordance de la codification du chaudron du Dagda avec les autres accessoires connus du dieu, et par sa relation directe avec une conception archaïque de l’organisation du panthéon et de la souveraineté relevant de l’idéologie trifonctionnelle indo-européenne.
    L’auteur identifie aussi une application rituelle du chaudron du Dagda survivant dans une institution majeure de l’Irlande alto-médiévale, celle du ‘chaudron de répartition’ propre à l’aristocratie gaélique. Et il traque les avatars du chaudron mythique dans l’épopée, dans l’hagiographie, mais aussi dans la toponymie et les légendes qui s’y rattachent. Il discute la fidélité des avatars débusqués au schéma mythologique décalqué et examine leurs éventuels apports à l’approfondissement de la compréhension du chaudron du Dagda et, par ricochets, au décryptage de certains traits de la personnalité du dieu demeurés obscurs dans sa mythologie. Ainsi assiste-t-on au lever du mystère sur deux des aspects les plus énigmatiques de cette marmite : son rapport aux eaux marines et l’origine de son pouvoir génésique extraordinaire.

Dépôt légal : décembre 2015
ISBN : 978-2-916537-7-7
ISBN : 978-2-9541625-4-6
14,8x21cm - 174 pages

Well-tempered offerings. Coin offerings at a river-crossing, as exemplified by the ford at Selles (dép. Marne / F)

During the survey by B. Lambot in 1995-1996 of the tributaries and their crossings around Château-Porcien and Rethel (dép. Ardennes / F) much pottery, a ring and 36 coins came to light at the edge of a ford above the Suippe near Selles (dép. Marne / F). The La Tène period and Roman Imperial coins represent offerings which were thrown into the river
while crossing in a certainly common custom. The dendrochronological dating of a post corresponds to the latest Roman issues; the last crossings can be dated to the time of Marcus Aurelius at the earliest. A comparison with the small coins gathered from other fords and bridges shows that in antiquity not just any coin was thrown into the water while
crossing it. As far as possible one chose an as, which is the most offered coin at religious sites. Thus, small coins do not form a representative cross-section of the coins in circulation, especially from the 2nd century onwards, since the sestertius (the equivalent of four asses and which is completely missing in the coin offerings of Selles) would have been the most common denomination in circulation.

A summary (French-language) of the results of the British project on the standing fabric of and excavations on the late Roman wall-circuit at Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, Haute-Garonne, France.
The hilltop walls enclosing an area of 4.43 ha were shown to survive in substantial part, including one section up to the wall-walk, parapet and merlons. Excavation of substantial internal stratification yielded dating evidence suggesting they were constructed in the early fifth century AD and formed part of a regional group of urban fortifications in the province of Novempopulana, south-western Gaul.

Ce volume constitue les actes du colloque annuel de l’AFPMA qui s’est tenu à l’École normale supérieure à
Paris, en novembre 2015.
Toichographologues, archéologues, conservateurs, restaurateurs… ont présenté vingt-six contributions,
discuté et confronté leurs travaux devant – et avec –un large public d’étudiants, chercheurs et amateurs,
français et étrangers.
La première partie, l’actualité de la recherche, regroupe des études sur des ensembles issus de fouilles
récentes, mais aussi plus anciennement dégagés, et maintenant revisités, qui enrichissent un corpus déjà
conséquent dans les Gaules, en Germanie, en Helvétie, en Italie.
La deuxième partie aborde la méthodologie, les analyses et les expérimentations, la conservation et la
restauration, et la diffusion des peintures et des stucs, à travers des technologies innovantes, l’usage de la
3D, les bases de données…
Enfin, deux analyses iconographiques et trois ensembles réétudiés avec un nouveau regard attentif terminent
ces actes qui, cette année encore dessinent un panorama de la recherche en cours dans le domaine des
revêtements antiques, la toichographologie, en Italie et dans les provinces de l’Empire romain

Now also online on https://books.openedition.org/ausonius/19138

Une des conséquences les plus manifestes de la conquête des Gaules fut sans conteste le passage de la monnaie gauloise à la monnaie romaine. Jusqu’à présent, aucune étude détaillée n’y avait pourtant été consacrée. En confrontant les données numismatiques aux sources archéologiques, littéraires et épigraphiques, et en s’appuyant sur plus d’une centaine de cartes et de graphiques produits spécialement pour cette recherche, cet ouvrage propose une analyse croisée de la monétarisation et de la romanisation dans la Gaule du Nord et de l’Est. Replacée dans son contexte économique, politique et social, la monnaie éclaire l’ensemble des processus qui ont mené à l'intégration des Trois Gaules dans le monde romain, depuis l’apparition d’une économie monétaire avec les premières monnaies gauloises du IIIe s. a.C. et les traités d’alliance entre Rome et peuples gaulois au IIe s. a.C., jusqu’à la conquête césarienne et la municipalisation augustéenne qui signe l’arrêt des frappes indigènes et leur disparition complète dès le milieu du Ier s. p.C.

Although one of the most remarkable outcomes of the conquest of Gaul was the transition from Gallic to Roman coinage, no detailed study has yet been devoted to this topic. Based on more than a hundred maps and graphs, drawing extensively not only on numismatic data, but also on archaeological, literary and epigraphic sources, this book offers a joint analysis of the monetisation and Romanisation of Northern and Eastern Gaul. Set in its economic, political and social context, coinage guides us through the processes that led to the integration of the Three Gauls in the Roman world: from the emergence of a monetary economy with the first indigenous coins in the 3rd c. B.C., to the treaties between Rome and Gallic peoples in the 2nd c. B.C., and finally to the Caesarean conquest and the Augustan municipalisation that ultimately led to the end of locally-produced coinage and its complete disappearance by the mid-1st c. A.D.
The book is written in French, with an extensive summary in English.

Reviews (see links): Christian Lauwers, Revue belge de numismatique et de sigillographie 162, 2016, p. 372-375; Charles Parisot-Sillon, Revue des études anciennes 119-1, 2017, p. 351-354; Richard Reece, Journal of Roman Archaeology 30, 2017, p. 701-704

Road stations, often improperly defined as post-stations or mansiones and mutationes, are a peculiar category of archaeological sites, which includes a large variety of possibilities, from small isolated buildings to large complexes. Most of the identifications of these complexes with infrastructures functional to assisting travellers are based on architectural features (e.g. presence of courtyards accessible to vehicles directly from the main road, presence of stables and other types of animal shelters, watering places and mangers). In a few cases, the presence of a forge or traces of blacksmithing activities are considered as clear indicators of the deeds carried out to repair vehicles. The peculiarity of the assemblage and the finding of small objects related to the harness, to vehicles and even footwear are considered other meaningful markers. This paper will focus attention on the analysis of the combination of these elements, presenting several case-studies from Roman Gaul.