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74-678: In 58 BC, at the Battle of Bibracte , Julius Caesar 's armies defeated the Helvetii 16 miles south of the fort. In 52 BC, Vercingetorix was proclaimed head of the Gaulish coalition at Bibracte. A few decades after the Roman conquest of Gaul, Bibracte was abandoned in favour of Autun , 25 kilometres away. Once abandoned, Bibracte remained undisturbed and unexamined until discovered by modern archaeology . Jacques-Gabriel Bulliot initiated

148-568: A census would have been difficult to achieve by the Gauls, that it would make no sense to be written in Greek by non-Greek tribes, and that carrying such a large quantity of stone or wood tablets on their migration would have been a monumental feat. Henige finds it oddly convenient that exactly one quarter were combatants, suggesting that the numbers were more likely ginned up by Caesar than outright counted by census. Even contemporary authors estimated that

222-479: A commercial crossroads between the Celtic world and Rome . They allowed the diffusion of Roman products through Gaul as early as the 2nd century BCE, allowing their allies to benefit from their commerce with Rome and definitely with Greek colonies such as Massilia . These exchanges are confirmed by the large quantities of amphoras and ceramics from Italy found in waste tanks and in the paving of houses. In addition,

296-617: A delaying tactic). Caesar's supplies ran thin around 20 June and he was forced to travel towards allied territory in Bibracte , as while his army had easily crossed the Saône, his supply train had not. Bibracte was approximately 18 miles away from their camp to obtain the supplies promised by his allies, the Aedui , in whose lands the Helvetii were crossing. Dumnorix, an Aedui chieftain opposed to

370-436: A detailed study of the excavation and of the objects discovered, which are then stored at the site's research center. The early prospecting technique used by Bulliot was rudimentary. It consisted of observing the irregularities in the landscape, since the mountain was practically unchanged since the period under study. This allowed him to recreate a plan of the battlements with nearly no excavation. He used this technique to make

444-619: A doubt, it was in these buildings that the Aedui centralized their harvests and imports. The political system of the Aedui was essentially structured according to indications in the Commentaries on the Gallic War . At the head of the Aedui state sat a senate comprising one member of each Aedui aristocratic family. What is today called executive power was held by the vergobret , the supreme magistrate , who exercised his functions over

518-494: A height between four and five meters (13 and 16 feet) without its yet-unknown top (e.g., palisades or towers) and an identical depth, and was preceded by a ditch between 2 and 4 metres (6.6 and 13.1 ft) deep and between 6 and 10 metres (20 and 33 ft) wide. A study was conducted between 1995 and 2002 with many probes along with those by the University of Vienna . The researchers were able to ascertain that this battlement

592-403: A large entrance on the east side. On the terrace a 44-metre-long square building was constructed out of wood, with galleries surrounding a central courtyard. Around 30 BC a monumental building was erected in the central space and the galleries were replaced with a palisade. In c. 15 BC the previous building was levelled and a vast platform was built which was surrounded by stone walls. In the centre

666-527: A large part of Gaul. These references were not impartial, since Rome had been allied with the Aedui, "our blood brothers", since at least the 2nd century BCE. Moreover, they maintained commercial links and military alliances: Rome helped the Aedui in the 2nd century to defeat an Arverni army and rose to their defense against the invasion of the Helvetii that precipitated the Gallic War . Gabriel de Mortillet , in his classification of ancient peoples, included

740-421: A length of 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) per battlement. It is estimated that construction of the wall required more than 10,000 cubic meters of wood, between 10,000 and 20,000 cubic meters of earth and about thirty tons of iron. The outer wall encircles an area of 200 hectares and was the subject of research beginning in 1992 for initial probing. This archeological research revealed that the battlement originally had

814-526: A part of the dominant Aedui class, already pro-Roman during the Gallic War , definitely realized the strategic importance of the new city located on the principal axes of communication and wanted to conform to the Roman model of flatland cities, while a more traditional population remained for a time on the Bibracte site. It is known from 13th century texts that a festival every first Monday of May survived. In

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888-491: A progression of two different surrounding walls and at least five restorations of the inner surrounding wall, revealed, among other things, by the study of the Rebout gate. Surprisingly, the inner encircling wall was constructed after the outer wall. The city, therefore, shrank in area from 200 to 135 hectares (494 to 334 acres). The internal wall, discovered by Bulliot, is a Murus Gallicus that delimits an area of 135 hectares for

962-553: A project of excavations of European scope. Thus, in 1989, the European Archeological Center of Mont Beuvray was created, which includes the site, the museum, and the research center of Glux-en-Glenne . It was inaugurated in 1995. The excavations were conducted by Vincent Guichard and put into practice by many French and foreign teams; the excavations notably concentrated on the Gallic neighborhood of Rebout, on

1036-475: A scale plan with the help of army topographers, who made a series of topographical recreations of the landscape. However, only the recreation of the Porrey neighborhood still exists to this day. In recent years, the same technique has been used in the Porrey neighborhood with more precise tools, such as theodolites and GPS . Aerial and electromagnetic prospecting is made impossible by the forest and vegetation on

1110-544: A trace of a method for locking the gate or a defensive device for it. Some hypotheses have advanced the idea of a double gate surmounted by a wooden guard tower like that of the Manching oppidum, but nothing has yet confirmed this. The recent research on the battlements, since 2005, has concentrated on a line of fortification downhill from the Gate of Rebout. Dating seems to indicate that this construction took place after that of

1184-408: Is explained by the relief of the terrain, as the battlements encircle three summits with some relatively steep slopes. Since 1984, the excavations have seemed to confirm Déchelette's and Bulliot's hypotheses in broad terms, while nevertheless contributing certain nuances. Bibracte was protected by strong Murus Gallicus style battlements, which excavations have been able to reconstruct. The city had

1258-472: The Helvetii , forcing them to return to Switzerland and gradually be incorporated into what became the Roman Empire . In 52 BCE, an assembly of Gallic peoples at Bibracte gave Vercingetorix supreme command of the Gallic armies. Despite this insurrection, Caesar treated the city mercifully after his victory at Alesia . He stayed there during the winter of 52-51 BCE to write his Commentaries on

1332-684: The Manching in Germany and Velem-Zenst-Vid in Hungary, which were precursors of the cultural unification of the Celtic world and of the civilization of oppida . During the excavations of the gate, five artifacts were discovered, the oldest of which demonstrated human habitation on Mont Beuvray in the Neolithic Era . Dating techniques have shown that the oppidum was founded at end of the 3rd century BCE, on an area of 200 hectares protected by

1406-562: The Sequani fought each other to control the Arar (now the Saône) because controlling the river allowed taxation of Roman and Celtic products traveling north. In the centre of the oppidum many cellars and certain public buildings that stored large quantities of cereals and wine imported from the southern countries have been found. One of these wooden cellars has recently been reconstructed. Without

1480-461: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Une description du Beuvrect " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try

1554-415: The druids . Among the Aedui, it seems like the vergobret also exercised a judiciary role, since Caesar reports that he had "the right to life and death over his fellow citizens". Finally, it is thought that the vergobret was responsible for the administration of the territory. Furthermore, it is known that the druids held high functions since Diviciacus came to Rome to plead the case of the Aedui during

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1628-463: The 15th and 16th centuries, a Franciscan convent was established on Mont Beuvray. It was abandoned, but the festival continued. The power of the Aedui capital was related in the Commentaries on the Gallic War , which underlined the many alliances held by the Aedui with neighboring peoples. Julius Caesar also mentioned the wars that set the Aedui against the Arverni and the Sequani for hegemony over

1702-478: The 19th century. The houses include, in particular, the residence PC1 (so named by Bulliot), which is a veritable gold mine for the researchers. In fact, it developed from a wood construction (of Roman inspiration) into a domus with an atrium containing an impluvium , porticos , and thermae heated by hypocaust , along with a system of sewers. In its final stage, the residence measured 55 by 67 meters, covering an area of around 3500 square meters, about four times

1776-639: The Aedui country between the Saône and the Loire , in which he revealed his convictions, was not taken seriously by the members of the Society of Archeology. Emperor Napoleon III took an interest in the battles of the Gallic Wars and an officer named Stoffel, charged by the Emperor with conducting investigations of the Roman victory over the Helvetii , visited Bulliot, who shared with him his opinions about

1850-432: The Aedui installed a system of customs that taxed products passing through their territory to increase their wealth, as attested in the texts of Julius Caesar: "It was typical of Dumnorix : the man was audacious, his generosity made him popular, and he wanted political change. For years, he has had the control of the customs and all the other taxes of the Aedui, because when he bid, no one dared bid against him." The Aedui and

1924-528: The Aedui. He also returned to Mont Beuvray to take more notes. He discovered what he thought was the embankment of a Roman camp (actually a nemeton ) at the summit of Mont Beuvray next to the chapel. He documented it and considered placing Bibracte at Mont Beuvray instead of Autun, contrary to the unanimous opinion of the Aedui Society. The publication of his Essay on the Roman System of Defense in

1998-777: The Autun hypothesis received the greatest approval at first. Moreover, Autun was renamed Bibracte after the French Revolution and remained so for some time. Only the research of Jacques Gabriel Bulliot  [ fr ] in the 19th century shifted scholarly opinion in favor of Mont Beuvray. In 1851, Bulliot communicated with the Congress of the French Society of Archeology about an ancient chapel (the Saint Martin chapel on Mont Beuvray) established to Christianize

2072-445: The Gallic War . These mentioned the names of certain notables of the Aedui aristocracy such as Dumnorix , vergobret of the Aedui, and his brother Diviciacus , the druid . The city's industry boomed in the decades following the war. Strabo the geographer, writing a generation later than Caesar, identified Bibracte as again an Aedui stronghold. After the founding of Autun ( Augustodunum ) 25 kilometers away c. 15 BCE, during

2146-475: The Germanic invasion led by Ariovistus on the account of the Sequani ; he also directed the Aedui cavalry during the Gallic War after the death of his brother Dumnorix . Therefore, it is thought that some druids held high military positions. From 1865 to 1895, Gabriel Bulliot identified Bibracte in 1867 and began excavations there (notably the Celtic artisanal neighborhood surrounding the Rebout gate), with

2220-692: The Helvetii across the plain between the hills, the Boii and the Tulingi arrived with fifteen thousand men to assist the Helvetii, flanking the Romans on one side. At that point, the Helvetii returned to the battle in earnest. When the Tulingi and the Boii started circumventing the Romans, Caesar regrouped his third line to resist the assault of the Boii and Tulingi, keeping his primary and secondary committed to chasing

2294-498: The Helvetii. The battle lasted many hours into the night, until the Romans finally took the Helvetic baggage train, capturing both a daughter and a son of Orgetorix . According to Caesar, 130,000 enemies escaped, of whom 110,000 survived the retreat. Unable to pursue on account of battle wounds and the time it took to bury the dead, Caesar rested three days before he followed the fleeing Helvetii. These, in turn, had managed to reach

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2368-444: The Romans, had been delaying supplies from reaching Caesar's army. The Roman troops were so caught up in the current events of Dumnorix cutting their supplies that the Helvetii used this moment to attack Caesar's rear guard and took full advantage of this opportunity. Informed by deserters from the allied auxiliary cavalry of Lucius Aemilius (the commander of the cavalry), the Helvetii decided to harass Caesar's rear guard which caught

2442-416: The aid of funds allocated by Napoleon III. In fact, having a passion for history, the emperor set off vast campaigns of excavations to uncover sites of the Gallic War in order to write his History of Julius Caesar . Joseph Déchelette, the nephew of Bulliot, took up his work again from 1895 to 1907. He was killed during World War I and the excavations fell into neglect. In 1984, the excavations began again under

2516-511: The attention of many. When Caesar observed this, he sent his cavalry to delay the attack. This led to the true start to the Battle of Bibracte. Caesar then placed the Seventh ( Legio VII Claudia ), Eighth ( Legio VIII Augusta ), Ninth ( Legio IX Hispana ), and Tenth legions ( Legio X Equestris ), organized in Roman fashion ( triplex acies , or "triple battle order"), at the foot of a nearby hill,

2590-437: The basin is aligned with the winter solstice sunrise and summer solstice sunset. 2) The basin has a geometric design based on two circles intersecting at 1/5 of their diameter, forming a precise 3:4:5 Pythagorean triangle between the centre of the circles, the centre of the basin and the end of the basin. Battle of Bibracte The Battle of Bibracte was fought between the Helvetii and six Roman legions, under

2664-538: The campaign. Strabo states an even lower figure, with only 8,000 escaping the battle, an estimate assessed as plausible by Hans Delbrück . Historian David Henige takes particular issue with the supposed population and warrior counts. Caesar claims that he was able to estimate the population of the Helvetii because in their camp there was a census, written in Greek on tablets, which would have indicated 263,000 Helvetii and 105,000 allies, of whom exactly one quarter (92,000) were combatants. But Henige points out that such

2738-401: The centre of a protected forest. It is the focus of cooperative European archaeological efforts, a training ground for young archaeologists, and a centre for interpreting Gaulish culture for a popular audience. Important international excavations have been undertaken at Mont Beuvray by teams from the universities of Sheffield , Kiel , Budapest , Vienna and Leipzig . On December 12, 2007,

2812-467: The collective suffix -akti (cf. Irish, Gallic aktā ) or from the Latin biffractrus (twice fortified). The latter version, however, is thought questionable from a strategic view, since it is very difficult to protect a battlement over a long distance, a problem which a double battlement would only have exacerbated. Moreover, the stone facing of the outer surrounding wall was reused for the construction of

2886-528: The command of Gaius Julius Caesar . It was the second major battle of the Gallic Wars . The Helvetii, a confederation of Gallic tribes, had begun a total migration of its peoples in March of 58 BC. This alarmed the Romans and began the Gallic Wars . Julius Caesar was the governor of Transalpine Gaul , and by the time of battle had between 24,000 and 30,000 legionary troops, and some quantity of auxiliaries, many of whom were Gauls themselves. He marched north to

2960-413: The course of a year. He was forbidden from leaving the borders of the territory during this period, which prevented him from commanding the army outside the borders. This measure, along with that which authorized only one voice per aristocratic family in the senate, aimed to prevent any individual or their family from monopolizing the reins of power. The vergobret was publicly elected by a council directed by

3034-517: The era have cited other evidence to justify placing the Aeduian oppidum on the site of Autun (the former Augustodunum ), which was effectively the capital of the Aedui in the first century. Bibracte is mentioned only twice in Roman sources. The first mention is found in Julius Caesar 's Commentaries on the Gallic War in the year 58 BC. It was mentioned again in 52 BCE, when he

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3108-409: The exterior rampart. An interior rampart was built later, for reasons unknown. Because the Aedui had the status of "friend of the Roman people," contacts with Roman merchants were probable before the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. This privileged status prevented Bibracte from suffering much from conflict: in 58 BCE, at Montmort 25 kilometers south of the site, Julius Caesar's armies defeated

3182-520: The first excavations at the site between 1867 and 1895. His nephew Joseph Déchelette , author of a famous Manuel d'Archéologie , continued the excavations between 1897 and 1907. The modern site, known as Mont Beuvray , is generally identified as ancient Bibracte. The site straddles the borders of the French départements of Nièvre and Saône-et-Loire in Burgundy. The site is an archaeological park at

3256-478: The gate and therefore constituted an advance fortification. At the same time, some aristocratic tombs have been discovered between the two lines of battlements. Excavations conducted between 2012 and 2017 uncovered the remains of a large monumental public building dating to the La Tène period, c. 70 BC. In the first phase of construction (c. 70 BC) a terrace was built, surrounded by a murus gallicus stone wall with

3330-605: The guarantee of their power. Around Bibracte were very good roads, uniting the three biggest basins of France ." So, the Roman products traveling up the Rhône (the waterways were the fastest means of travel at the time) and taking after that the Saône , the Loire or the Allier , passed through Aedui territory before joining the basins of the Loire and Seine . The Aedui were located at

3404-461: The impetus of François Mitterrand , who proclaimed Bibracte a site of national interest in 1985. This term, invented for the occasion, allowed the site to be subsidized. The label of "national interest" was created afterward in order to designate exhibitions or sites which benefit from a program of diffusion and enlargement of the public by the Minister of Culture. This gives the necessary impetus to

3478-644: The location of Bibracte. Interested by these investigations, the Archbishop shared the various findings with the Emperor who, in 1867, assigned Bulliot to do research at Mont Beavray and funded his work. Bulliot excavated the site from 1867 to 1905, removing all doubt about the location of Bibracte. His nephew Joseph Déchelette , whom he introduced to excavation, continued the work until 1907, comparing Bibracte to other sites in Europe such as Stradonice in Bohemia,

3552-456: The location of Bibracte. Stoffel was not interested, but he commissioned Xavier Garenne, another member of the Aedui Society, to make a survey of Mont Beavray. At the same time, the Viscount of Aboville, the owner of the land, conducted research and shared it with the Archbishop of Reims, who was a member of the Aedui Society and a friend of Bulliot, though he did not share Bulliot's theory about

3626-415: The mountain since the end of grazing and the excavations of Joseph Déchelette, as well as the nature of the subsoil. One costly but faster technique, tested in 2007, is LIDAR , the use of airborne laser scanners, which are unhindered by the vegetation and can recreate in minutes what usually takes weeks to do on the ground. This will be done in order to attempt to make a complete map of the city and to archive

3700-405: The names Bibracte and Beuvrect. Second, medieval chronicles situated the city at Beuvrect. This was reinforced by the existence of an annual fair on the first Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of May, the age of which is attested to in texts from the 13th century. Finally, the discovery of pottery, coins, and the observations of the priest of Saint-Léger-sous-Beuvray in 1725 supported it. Generally,

3774-414: The onslaught by using pila (javelins or throwing spears). The Roman legionaries then drew swords and advanced downhill, wading into their opponents. Many Helvetii warriors had pila sticking out of their shields and threw them aside to fight unencumbered, but this also made them more vulnerable. The legions drove the Helvetii back toward the hill where their baggage train sat. While the legions pursued

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3848-550: The oppidum. Another artisanal neighborhood has been found in the region of one of the summits of the site, at the Rock of the Wyvern , an area which had been little investigated at the time of Bulliot and Déchelette's research. This neighborhood will be the object of future excavations which will attempt to determine the function of the neighborhood. Predominantly made of wood and earth, the Gallic houses used stone only sparingly, which

3922-406: The population of the Helvetii and their allies were lower, Livy surmised that there were 157,000 overall. But Henige still believes this number inaccurate. Hans Delbrück estimates that there were at most 20,000 migrating Helvetii, of whom 12,000 were warriors. Gilliver thinks that there were not more than 50,000 men in the Gallic army. Also according to Caesar the census totals of the tribes at

3996-560: The presence of forges near the domus. At the centre of the main road, in the area of the Pasture of the Monastery, stands a pink granite monumental basin which is thought to have had a sacred function. It could possibly represent a sacred point of the city's founding, or a water shrine. Water left the basin through the northern opening downstream, continuing through a pipe. The supply of water, however, has not yet been discovered. The basin

4070-479: The question of the location of Bibracte. One theory placed Bibracte at Autun: the Gallic city at the site of the Gallo-Roman city. Another placed it at Beaune and was defended by the scholar Hugues de Salins  [ fr ] . A third located the city on the slopes of Beuvrect or Bevrect, today known as Mont Beuvray . This last theory was based on three major arguments. First, there is a connection between

4144-411: The reign of Augustus , Bibracte was gradually abandoned by its inhabitants. However, cults continued to practise their rites in its temples and its fountains and its aristocratic residences were maintained. Two main hypotheses have been advanced concerning the abandonment of the site over several decades. Migration could have been caused by economic reasons or by a desire to integrate with the Roman model;

4218-420: The river Saône , where he caught the Helvetii in the middle of crossing. Some three-quarters had crossed, but he slaughtered those who had not. Caesar then crossed the river in one day using a pontoon bridge . Next, he followed the Helvetii, but refused to engage in combat, waiting for ideal conditions. Negotiations were attempted, but Caesar's terms were draconian (likely on purpose, as Caesar may have used it as

4292-427: The second wall, meaning it is unlikely that Bibracte was surrounded by two walls at the same time. Three inscriptions dedicated to the goddess Bibracte which were found at Autun in the 17th century provide another explanation for the name, but two of the inscriptions carved into the stone have disappeared and the authenticity of the third, engraved on a brass medallion, has been the object of debate. Some scholars of

4366-508: The site of Beuvray, in the region of the Champlain, and on the surrounding massifs revealed the existence of mines for the extraction of metals, including gold, iron, and tin ore. This research will continue and will attempt to restore the workshops for the smelting of the metals extracted outside the oppidum. In fact, given the specialization of the workshops in Bibracte, it seems that the metals arrived in bars which were therefore cast outside

4440-551: The site of Bibracte received the "Great Site of France" designation. Before the Roman conquest in 52 BC the great Celtic city of Bibracte had more than thirty thousand inhabitants, protected by a huge stone wall of the Murus Gallicus type which enclosed an area of 135 hectares. The origin of the word Bibracte is still poorly understood. The term may have come from the Celtic *bibro- / *bebro- ( beaver ) followed by

4514-408: The site's residents under the name "Beavraisian", a category abandoned by modern scholars. In addition to this powerful alliance with Rome, the Aedui were part of a confederation of Celtic tribes that included: Whose influence extended across a large part of Gaul. In his History of Gaul , the historian Camille Jullian writes these lines about the Aedui : "Bibracte, I am sure, was the source and

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4588-494: The size of the domus found on the site of Pompeii . It is estimated that there were about fifteen domus' in this area, such as PC2, a smaller residence that faces PC1 on the other side of the central road. There are also homes of the villa rustica type (the Italian rural residences) like PC33. However, it is still not known whether this was a residential neighborhood reserved for only the elite, since excavations have also revealed

4662-469: The space was possibly occupied by a new central building. Next to this another platform was built, also surrounded by a stone wall, with an internal gallery built from wood. These constructions have been compared to other known public buildings and temples from the La Tène period, though the precise purpose of the buildings at Bibracte is yet to be determined. According to Hantrais et al. (2020) "The characteristics of this monumental construction indicate that it

4736-1012: The start of the war were: Une description du Beuvrect Look for Une description du Beuvrect on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Une description du Beuvrect in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

4810-555: The territory of the Lingones within four days of the battle. Caesar warned the Lingones not to assist them, prompting the Helvetii and their allies to surrender. Caesar claimed that of the 368,000 Helvetii and allies, only 130,000 got away, of whom 110,000 returned home. Orosius , probably drawing on the works of Caesar's general Asinius Pollio , gave an original strength of 157,000 for the barbarians, adding that 47,000 died during

4884-524: The top of which he occupied himself, along with the Eleventh ( Legio XI Claudia ) and Twelfth ( Legio XII Fulminata ) legions and all his auxiliaries. His baggage train was assembled near the summit, where it could be guarded by the forces there. Having driven off Caesar's cavalry and with their own baggage train secured, the Helvetii engaged "in the seventh hour", approximately noon or one o'clock. According to Caesar, his hilltop battle line easily threw back

4958-469: The topography of the location. The research done by Bulliot and Déchelette at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century recreated an organization of the site into neighborhoods, with construction mostly following a central road from the Gate of Rebout to the Great Gates. This organization differs from that of oppida like Manching, where there is a regular urban framework; this

5032-535: The vast Gallo-Roman ensemble of the Pasture of the Convent and the Roman residence of the Horse Park. Specialists, researchers, professors and students from all over Europe come together on the site every summer to excavate different parts of the site. These have included, among others: Each university excavates the site as part of tri-annual projects consisting of several weeks of work on the terrain followed by

5106-426: Was a Murus Gallicus that had been dismantled in order to construct the inner wall. The dating, however, remains imprecise, and places this event during the 2nd century. The battlement is punctuated by about fifteen gates, including the famous Gate of Rebout (20 meters (66 feet) in width and 40 meters (131 feet) in depth). The gate of Rebout was the first location excavated by Bulliot, where he worked for nine weeks, and

5180-743: Was certainly a public building with original architectural features and techniques. Yet, although this monumental building is very well documented archaeologically, its exact function remains enigmatic." Excavations in the neighborhoods known as the Côme Cauldron and the Champlain, near the Rebout Gate, have revealed a neighborhood dedicated to metalwork and to artisans' lodging. This metalworking seems to have been very specialized, incorporating blacksmiths, bronzeworkers, and enamellers, whose workshops had already been restored by Bulliot, and probably also involved goldsmiths and minters. Excavations on

5254-473: Was questioning the intentions of his Aedui allies, who had joined the revolt and crowned Vercingetorix king of the Gauls at Bibracte. Inscriptions from the era announced that the capital of the Aedui received the name Augustodunum  [ fr ] ( the citadel of Augustus ) during the reign of Augustus, which gave rise to the current Autun. Starting in the 16th century, a passion for local history arose among scholars, aristocrats, and clergy, which led to

5328-456: Was saved for the ramparts. Little is known of the houses' structure as wood rots and decomposes. There are, however, stone constructions in the horse Park district, probably aristocratic residences and a public building with columns, near the convent's pasture. These were probably constructed soon after the Gallic Wars . At the center of Mont Beuvray, the plateau known as the Horse Park holds several Roman-style stone houses which were excavated in

5402-430: Was the first site for new excavations from 1984 to 1986 which also studied the ditches adjoining the battlements. These excavations revealed five levels of different restorations, including a palisade from the Neolithic Era (dated with carbon-14 ). The latter has been the object of a reconstruction since 1996 which currently marks the entry into the old oppidum . At the present time, research has not been able to detect

5476-406: Was waterproofed with a coat of red clay, precluding a feed from a spring, and no supply pipe has been found. The manner of granite carving is unusual and shows Mediterranean influences. It has similarities to later Gallo-Roman stone basins and could be considered the oldest known example of this type. The design of the basin has an astronomical and mathematical significance: 1) The minor axis of

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