Re-evaluating pre-Roman Gaul

. . . a discovery in central France has led to a significant reassessment of the Gauls, who were, it transpires, much more advanced than previously thought.

Rather than the random gatherings of rudimentary thatched huts illustrated in the Asterix books, first published in 1961, archaeologists now believe the Gauls lived in elegant buildings with tiled roofs, laid out in towns with public squares or forums.

They also crafted metalwork just as complex as anything produced by the Romans, even before the Roman invasion in 52BC.

The findings have been made at a dig in Corent, near Lyon, where archaeologists have uncovered what they believe is the palace of Vercingetorix, the last military leader of all Gaul.

But see below. From the Telegraph, in an article just a bit too in love with playing up the Asterix angle. A more serious article in Le Monde (excerpt our translation):

A score of archeology students bustle about, the backdrop the characteristic volcanic hills of the Auvergne. "Here we are at the summit of the state, the home of one of the highest magistrates of the Arverne people", affirms Matthieu Poux, professor of Roman and Gallo-Roman archeology at the University of Lyon, sweeping his gaze over the 3000 to 4000 square meters of excavations. "In our shoes, the Anglo-Saxons [that is, English-speakers] would have already have jumped the gun and claimed to have discovered the residence of Vercingetorix or his father Celtill". . .

The plateau of Corent, which rises above the river Allier, around 20 kilometers to the south of Clermont-Ferrand, has since 2001 been revealing bit by bit the remains of a large Celtic city. Year by year, the excavations started by the Association for the research of the Iron Age in Auvergne overturn the common image of the Gauls living in villages of huts and organized in bands led by long-haired chieftains.

Well before the victory of Caesar over Vercingetorix -- in 52 BC, at Alésia -- and the Roman conquest, the Arvernes had developed a sophisticated urban model. This emergence of fortified towns governing the rural landscape is now dated to the turn of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC . . ..

The early Romanization of the Arvernes was undoubtedly due to their high magistrates travels back and forth between Italy and the center of France. That is suggested by the discovery, exceptional, of two fibulae in gold connected by a chain. "More than an ornament", affirms Matthieu Poux, "it was an emblem offered by Rome to the highest representatives of the state." He sees in it also a symbol of the connections and the early ties of allegiance between Roman and the Arvernes.

Posted by David on September 4, 2007 12:54 PM