In France, archaeologists have excavated one of the largest previously known villas from Roman Gaul. The residential buildings alone comprise around 4,000 square meters and were equipped with private bathrooms and underfloor heating. A garden with well and probably extensive land was around the villa. All of this indicates that once wealthy and influential people lived there, who belonged to the political elite of the nearby Roman city of Autessiodurum (Auxerre).
In the run-up to a street construction, archaeologists in the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté carried out excavations near the city of Auxerre on the right bank of the Yonne River. This city is known for the fact that it already existed in Roman antiquity, at that time under the name Autessiodurum. The Römerstraße via Aggrippa reached to the city, which in the Roman Empire belonged to the province of Gallia Lugdunensis.
Roman villa with 4000 square meters of floor space
In previous work in 1966, this area had already been found in this area near Sainte-Nitasse, around three kilometers from Auxerre, remnants of a Roman house. This included about a dozen rooms with more than 700 square meters. The building was probably inhabited by wealthy people from the first to the fourth century, such as the furniture, decorative mosaics and remains of ancient underfloor heating. The construction of the walls, remains of columns and an apse in one of the rooms also indicate a residential building of rich people, maybe even from nobility.
There was therefore suspected that further Roman relics in the area of the planned road route could be hidden underground. A team from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) has therefore carried out further excavations – and discovered and excavated further buildings from the Roman period on the site. These are part of an imposing ancient villa of a total of 4000 square meters of floor space. The building, which was excavated in 1966, turned out to be a mere ancillary wing of this large dwelling, as the team reports.
Living complex with baths and gardens
The newly discovered villa is surrounded by a wall in the west, north and east; There is a 450 square meter garden in the middle of the complex. At the north end of the garden there is a square pond and a small fountain in the south – typical of the demanding architecture of the Gallic villas, as the team explains. Archaeologists also found grown baths and galleries around the house, which served as reception rooms, technical areas and maybe a kitchen. This remarkable development of the residential part (Pars Urbana) including private thermal baths is considered typical of the large villas in Roman Gaul. The pars Urbana now discovered was even one of the largest found so far, emphasize the archaeologists.
Roman villas also usually had other buildings in the huge surrounding lands (Pars Rustica), which stretched over several hectares. This could also have been the case with the now excavated estate, like some foundations around the villa suggested. However, in this case, the villa was exceptionally large in relation to its agricultural area, as the INRAP team explains.
Who lived here?
The residential complex was probably built in two sections, possibly also three, and therefore gradually expanded and expanded, as the archaeologists conclude from the finds. The villa and its surrounding facility may have developed parallel to the city of Auxerre, which in the Roman period between the first and fourth centuries grumbled from a rural agglomeration to a capital.
It seems clear who lived in the imposing villa around 2000 years ago: wealthy landowners who formed the political elite of the ancient settlement or city. Because the remains testify to a very comfortable lifestyle and wealth of the residents. The archaeologists now hope to learn more about the everyday life of this elite and the history of the villa from the new finds such as ceramics and organic material.
Source: National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap)
