The Celtic World (Routledge Worlds)

• The First Towns -

Villeneuve-Saint-Germain

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Figure 10.4 Villeneuve-Saint-Germain, Soissons. Detail of the excavated area showing plans of
palisaded enclosures aligned along a street. (From Collis 1984, fig. 8.20.)

several oppida, of which one may be the primary site, Bourges (Avaricum) in the case
of the Bituriges. The Aedui possessed different types of site, Bibracte (Mont
Beuvray), the main oppidum, or cppOUplOV (defended outpost) as Strabo termed it;
and a major trading port at Cabillonum (Chalons-sur-Saone). In contrast, other
tribes seem to have had only a single massive site, like the oppidum of Villejoubert
in the territory of the Lemovices, while others may have had only one, but not
especially large (Corent and its successors among the Arverni).
Caesar mentioned, in addition to oppida, vici and aedificia, presumably villages
and estates. Archaeologically, little is known of such sites, and this may not only be
due to lack of fieldwork, as two extensive field-walking exercises failed to produce
settlements around known oppida. Some secondary settlements are known in Gaul,