One of Gaul’s largest Roman villas found in Auxerre

Archaeologists have unearthed one of the largest Roman villas in Gaul near Auxerre in central France. The structure was known to have been there, with the first remains discovered in 1966 when a gravel pit was dug at the site. The rough excavation at the time uncovered a rectangular building of about 700 square meters (7,535 square feet) with ten rooms and hypocaust systems from a bath system. It was considered a substantial but modest rural villa. The new excavation at the site has unearthed an immense structure covering 4,000 square meters (43,055 square feet) in area. That means the 1966 building was just a secondary outbuilding of a far, far larger villa complex.

Located at the crossroads of the river Yonne and the major Roman road the Via Agrippa, the Gallo-Roman city of Autisiodorum started small in the 1st century, but rose to become one of the seven capital cities of the Roman imperial province of Lugdunensis Senonia in the early 4th century. With evidence of occupation and modification in stages from the 1st to the 4th century A.D, this villa spans the lifetime of Roman Autisiodorum.

Enclosed by a perimeter wall, the villa features a central square peristyle garden with a rectangular basin on the north side that probably served both as an attractive ornament and as a practical source of water for the house. A small fountain is on the south side of the garden. It was flanked by porticoed galleries with different rooms like reception rooms, work spaces, possibly a kitchen. A large thermal bath is attached to the eastern wing of the domus.

A large quadrangular space, leaning against the boundary wall to the west, could correspond to a development of the pars rustica . The first results suggest two stages of construction, but it is perhaps three that mark the history of this rural establishment.[…]

The large villae in Roman Gaul are characterized by their vast dimensions (constructions spread over several hectares), and by a considerable development of the residential part (pars urbana) , which is the case here. They are also almost always characterized by the presence of private baths, often large, directly linked or very close to the latter. We generally find sophisticated architecture, using noble materials: marble, mosaics, frescoes, etc., but also special arrangements such as basins, fountains, gardens which can sometimes develop into several courtyards, small private sanctuaries. These villae formed the heart of vast estates belonging to wealthy landowners who certainly constituted the political elite of ancient cities. Few of them have such a large pars urbana extensively excavated.

* This article was originally published here