Stations routières, villas et ‘plurifonctionnalité’ des ‘bâtiments de bord de route’. Apport de quelques opérations d’archéologie préventive - HAL-SHS - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société Accéder directement au contenu
Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2016

Road stations, villas and multifunctional nature of the roadside sites. The contribution of rescue archaeology interventions

Stations routières, villas et ‘plurifonctionnalité’ des ‘bâtiments de bord de route’. Apport de quelques opérations d’archéologie préventive

Résumé

In France, the development of rescue archaeology has led to a multiplication of discoveries concerning sections of Roman highways and buildings related to them, sometimes isolated and sometimes parts of larger roadside settlements. A significant number ofthese did not appear on the different itineraries which permit the reconstitution of the general road network. In their publications, the archaeologists who did intervene have raised the question of their use for the highway service and, in particular, in relation with the cursus publicus. They have questioned the place of the uncovered buildings in the general occupation of the territories through which they pass: all of them are not linked to the administration. This article presents the study of three cases. The first one deals with the road network in Gallia Belgica. The sites, whether excavated or simply prospected, are essentially post houses, inns, or artisans’ workshops. But a certain number of them contain equipment which could be linked to agricultural production and others raise questions such as: were they for the supplying of the inn? were they warehouses for the marketing of domanial products or, in the case of the largest ones, were they warehouses for the annona ? In Gallia Narbonensis, the rescue archaeology interventions on the A75 itinerary in the Hérault valley have shed light on the environment of the Roman highway linking Cessero (Saint-Thibéry) on the via Domitia and Segodunum (Rodez). On the whole, the authors have clearly identified the inn function of a series of roadside sites characterized by the existence of closed courtyards with carriage gates. A balnearium provided the comfort equipment the travellers had the right to expect. These establishments were likely to be dependencies of some large domains located at a certain distance from the highway. They are probably tabernae deversoriae, the sort of inns which, according to Varro, rich landlords had built along the main roads in order to collect some additional income. This practice is well known in the places for which we have a rich documentation concerning the charges for access to stabula and tabernae administered by institores. Since 1997, the development of the Lyon metropolis toward the Saône valley, south of Villefranche-sur-Saône, has given the opportunity for a series of rescue archaeology operations in the vicinity of a major highway, the road to the Ocean (odos épi do ôkeanon) (Strabo IV, 6, 11) built by Agrippa. Being a main link between the Mediterranean and the north-west of Europe, it played a most important role in the Roman highway network in the western part of the Empire. J.C. Béal, C. Coquidé and R. Tenu have devoted a monography to the 20 kilometre long section between the two stopping places of Ludna to the north and Asa Paulini to the south. On the assumed location of Ludna, excavations have uncovered a fanum, some ‘long houses’ and a number of warehouses. These excavations have justified the identification of Ludna as a roadside station. But, as it is the case for Clavier-Vervoz in Belgium, none of the few excavated houses present the characteristics one would expect in an establishment, whether public or private, suited for the welcoming of travellers. The case of Asa Paulini is more complex. Two major sites are known in this area. At Anse, a wall, 110m by 150m, protects a site which A. Grenier has identified as a ‘postal fortress’. The construction of this wall, which is today still a few metres high, is dated between the 3rd and the 5th centuries. The second site is the Grange-du-Bief villa which occupies 3.3 hectares above the Saône valley and is one of the extremely large complexes known in Gaul. Down below, rescue archaeological excavations have identified a remarkable series of sites stretched along the road over a distance of several kilometres, mainly on the administrative territory of Anse. Three sites are particularly important. At Bancillon, an establishment combining living quarters and installations for production is identified as a villa (1st_ 4th cent). Eighty metres from there, at ‘La Citadelle’, another roadside establishment – 80m by 55m, covering 4,400 square metres – presents an atypical plan. Two wings have been identified and they surround a courtyard, a storage building as well as living quarters. The lack of thermal baths excludes the possibility of identifying it as a road station. Further to the north, at ‘La Logère’, on the administrative territory of Pommiers, archaeologists have entirely excavated a site, on the side of the road which, during the 2nd century, occupied more than 9,500 square metres. With a length of 150 metres, it juxtaposes two areas of unequal importance. The first one consists of a vast courtyard with, on three sides, a combination of buildings for agricultural production and storage as well as living quarters in the form of a single line of rooms prolonged by thermal baths. This does not correspond to the plan of a villa. Its dimensions and the presence of living quarters imply a lodging function. The second area consists of an enclosure of smaller dimensions with, at its centre, a monument which is difficult to identify as a mausoleum or an altar. But the presence of an enclosed place of worship couldto identify as a mausoleum or an altar. But the presence of an enclosed place of worship could be explained by a need for religious protection. This two-part complex could turn out to be to the Asa Paulini road station. This succession of sites along the via Oceania could indicate that the importance of the road traffic had led to a rise in the demand for lodging and that the landlords of the neighbouring domains had seized upon the opportunity to increase their income. But production and storage facilities could be added in order to benefit from the proximity of the road. Two conclusions can be drawn from the study of these three cases: quite a number of ‘roadside sites’ do not owe their existence to the exclusive service of the Roman State, the army and the Emperor. One should reasonably distance oneself from the idea of a road network on which Rome would, on all the territories integrated within the Empire, have complete mastery. The second one concerns the sites themselves. The archaeological data leads to the admitting of the multifunctional nature of the roadside sites. They provided lodging and means of transportation to users, whether on a private basis or in the service of the State. And there was also a production of goods which would have benefited from the proximity of the road.
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Dates et versions

hal-01472562 , version 1 (20-02-2017)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-01472562 , version 1

Citer

Philippe Leveau. Stations routières, villas et ‘plurifonctionnalité’ des ‘bâtiments de bord de route’. Apport de quelques opérations d’archéologie préventive . Patrizia Basso & Enrico Zanini. Statio amoena. Sostare e vivere lungo le strade romane, Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, pp.235-246, 2016, 978 1 78491 498 1. ⟨hal-01472562⟩
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