- Chapter Twenty-Nine -
commercial and craft centres on summits which were distant from trade routes, as
happened at Mont Beuvray, for example? Oppida display the characteristics
of towns. They are deliberate foundations; complete circuits of enclosure separate
the site from the surrounding countryside; monumental gateways giving access to the
interior; agricultural, craft and business activities are all represented; and there is
evidence for the construction of the first public buildings. But the frequent selection
of locations on high ground to construct oppida meant that these sites were destined
to be short-lived. Whilst their floruit in Gallia Comata is to be sought after, rather
than before, the war with Caesar, they were generally abandoned in the first century
AD in favour of settlements in the lowlands.
Sanctuaries, which form the third element in recent research about Gaul, display
considerable similarities throughout the land (Brunaux 1991). Since the excavations
at Gournay-sur-Aronde, discoveries of deliberately sacrificed La Tene weapons or of
wooden structures under Gallo-Roman lana have multiplied. These sanctuaries are
complex entities, with buildings, which would have required the presence of an active
priesthood, for example to oversee sacrifices. Such a perspective is far from the
traditional image we have - of the collection of mistletoe and visits to sacred springs.
There is evidence of the rectangular enclosures known as Viereckschanzen, which
survive more particularly in the forests of the west and in the south of the Paris
Basin. Their function (as places of worship, for occasional meetings or for feasting)
remains difficult to determine, but their date, whenever this has been obtained, is
always within the La Tene period.
In none of these systems - settlements, funerary ritual, or religion - can we
recognize an abrupt break with romanized Gaul. We have serious, if not conclusive,
arguments to say that romanized villa farms succeeded their Gallic predecessors, the
aedificia of Caesar, Roman cemeteries their Celtic predecessors, and the rural temples
of Gallo-Roman times (jana), the earlier sanctuaries. It is the establishment of the
major settlements in lowland settings, and the development of Roman-style - and
especially masonry - architecture, that mark the most drastic change from what
had previously been the norm. But the rural landscapes, and the buildings and people
they contained, did not change. The mixing of traditions was rapid and complete,
such that Roman troops soon left Gaul in order to ensure the defence of all its
inhabitants on the Rhine frontier.
The celticization of nearly the whole of Gaul during the Iron Age seems evident.
The movement of Celtic groups is also beyond question, but never during this period
were they on such a scale that they led to the expulsion or annihilation of the indige-
nous populations. There are thus no complete breaks in the material culture record.
REFERENCESBraudcl, F. (1986) 'L'identitc de la France', Espace et Histoire, Paris: Artaud. The Identity of
France, vol. 1 History and Environment. Trans. Sian Reynolds, London: Collins.
Brunaux, J.-L. (1991) (cd.), Les sanctuaires celtiques et Ie monde mediterraneen, Dossiers de
Protohistoire, 3, Paris: Editions Errance.
Biichsenschiitz, O. et at. L'evolution du canton de Levroux d'apres les prospections et les
sondages archeologiques, Revue Archeologique du Centre, Suppl. Scr. I, Tours.