URL originale : https://books.openedition.org/alpara/7613
Abstract
p. 341-342
Texte intégral
1This publication summarises the results of a rescue archaeology excavation done from 2013 to 2014 on the site of the former Clermont-Ferrand bus terminal. This work was done ahead of the construction of the new Comédie theatre, part of France’s Scène Nationale label, and covered an area of 4,500 m2.
2With such a large area and the excellent state of preservation of the remains, the operation was able to retrace the history of a district at the outer edge of the ancient city. This district served as both a residential and business area from the late 1st century/early 2nd century A.D. until it was abandoned at the end of the 4th century. The site only began to be occupied again at the end of the Middle Ages and beginning of the Modern Era, at which time the land was put to use for crops.
3The monograph presents in turn archaeological descriptions and artefact/ecofact studies, analysed comprehensively and presented by main theme explored.
4The area studied is located at the bottom of the southern Tiretaine River valley, a marshy area some distance from the initial urban core of Augustonemetum, and near its main southern access road, a route occupied today by the Rue de Rabanesse. This is an inhospitable wetland environment, made wetter by a branch of the river that runs around the southern part of the Clermont mound. Five main phases of occupation were identified.
5The earliest constructions date back to the late 1st or very early 2nd century (phase 1a), when the ground was free of surface water. They reflect a yet sparse occupation, illustrated in the north section by a building that is not fully identifiable (A), but that we can speculate to have been residential based on a few clues, including its architecture, and, along the river and in the east section, by a building with a 260 m² total footprint and an atypical configuration (B). This building is on a plot of land that must have been formed between the river and the last street of the early 1st century urban grid to the north, while its eastern boundary is less clear. The building is made up of a central structure that runs east-west, and two wings with similar layouts flanking the north and south sides. These wings likely had an upper floor and were made up of two rooms with hard floors, murals and heating in the form of fireplaces, on either side of a hallway. Based on their small size and amenities, we can identify them as bedrooms. Five of the seven rooms making up the building (excluding hallways) are bedrooms. The west side of the central wing houses a large room for technical, especially culinary, activities (fireplaces, smokeroom/drying room), a new apartment and a large assembly hall at the far east end of the building. This was identified as an inn mainly based on its internal configuration, with an overrepresentation of bedrooms as well as large spaces to prepare and share meals, the existence of multiple large courtyards and the location within the ancient city, near major roadways.
6In the late 2nd century (phase 1b), some alterations were made to the building, including the addition to the south of several rooms against its north and south wings. The western half of building A was torn down, while the rooms on the east side were reconfigured. At the same time, a water system consisting of wooden pipes was installed nearby, and the first evidence of flooding was found.
7A short time later, in the late 2nd /early 3rd century (phase 2a), the river was channelised and the plots on the left bank were redrawn. As a result, the layout of the district was overhauled, and in the process, building A was destroyed and a western extension was added to the inn, where a new courtyard was built. The neighbouring plot to the west was then occupied by a house on an elongated plot (D) with a built-up area organised around a peristyle to the north and a vast ornamental garden to the south. This form – which may also have been adopted by plot C to the west – probably reflects new increasing land pressure constraints affecting this part of Clermont Ferrand, where a number of houses belonging to prominent individuals were built. This was especially the case on the neighbouring site of the former Humbert jam factory, which was excavated in the mid-1980s. The popularity of the district also led the inn to add another extension to the south (G), beyond the river, which was channelised at this location, offering new rooms to host travellers. Harnessing this branch of the Tiretaine also allowed for the construction of new buildings on the right bank. On the west side, building E consisted of a storage room and an oven, but since only a limited area was explored, interpretation was difficult. In the central section, however, building F provided a wealth of evidence about the work done there. This work was directly connected to the presence of the river and hydraulic power; we can reconstruct that this was a mill based on many large-diameter millstones and wooden parts found here. The flour produced was at least partially used directly on site, since a bakery was also found here.
8In the second half of the 3rd century (phase 2b), some work was done in each of the buildings, before the water table rose and increasing floods led to the abandonment of the southern third of the area excavated, on the right bank of the river.
9A withdrawal period started in the late 3 rd century (phase 3a). Building D underwent several modifications, while building B was more substantially redesigned and probably changed purpose. From that point on, it was organised around the north courtyard, new rooms were built in place of the former south wing and the plot was gradually closed off on its east side. The river once again became a boundary alongside which a burial site developed that mainly consisted of perinatal graves. Final work was done from the late 3rd to early 4th centuries, a time during which nearly all the buildings were abandoned. As part of this, the plot that had been occupied by the inn was demolished, but its perimeter walls were kept as part of a new building (I), that we could not characterise, primarily due to the poor conservation of the upper stratigraphic layers (phase 4). A small enclosure with ditches around it was created there at the end of the 4th century (phase 5).
10The site remained unused until the 15th century, when the land was strewn with many trenches, running mainly north-south, containing over 2,000 stakes or stake holes. These were rows of plantings divided into five separate plots or production units.
11Based on medieval texts and evidence from paleoenvironmental analyses, we think that these were staked vines. These productions were mentioned as early as the 10th century, and occupied fields on the banks of the Tiretaine, likely sharing the space with vegetable production areas. With land in the hands of lords and the clergy, cash crops started to be the top choice for farms on the outskirts of medieval and modern towns.
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Évolution d’un quartier périphérique d’Augustonemetum
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Évolution d’un quartier périphérique d’Augustonemetum
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