COLLEVILLE
or Koli Villa, Normandy/Seine Maritime, France.
Four km E of Fécamp, in the
broad and deep valley between the limestone plateaus
of the Caux region. The old Church of Saint-Martin is
traditionally held to have been built on the ruins of an
ancient temple. Excavations during the 19th c. uncovered
ruins and ancient objects (now in the museum at Rouen)
at Orival, in the Colleville district, and indicate that the
village was originally a vicus. Its ancient name is unknown; the present name is Danish in origin and dates
back to 10th c. Norman settlements.
The ancient road began at Fécamp and climbed the
valley. It is still visible at several places overhanging the
modern road.
From 1962 to 1969 excavation at the place called Petit
Moulin uncovered the plan of a Gallo-Roman dwelling
whose dating is interesting. The U-shaped villa, open to
the SW, is near the river, at the foot of the N face of the
valley. The facade, without a gallery, faces in the same
direction, with its back to the prevailing winds. It is
flanked by two long wings; the S wing, housing the domestic baths, was a room built over a hypocaust with
run-off conduits. The fourth side is open and probably
had a loggia.
The building was constructed on foundation walls of
flint sunk into very strong mortar. The walls were 75 cm
wide and 1 m high, their lower half being the sunken
foundation. On this foundation were erected walls made
of wooden panels filled with daubing or adobe. There
were 18 rooms, covering an area of 30 x 40 in. There
seems to have been a wall enclosing the entire structure,
and there must have been outbuildings.
There were two periods of habitation: the first beginning with the reign of Augustus (10-5 B.C.) and ending
with a fire at the close of the 2d c. A.D. (a Saxon maritime invasion? the Septimus Severus-Albinus conflict?);
the second period, when the villa was restored with poor
mortar, ended toward the end of the 3d or during the
4th c. There was also a later, transitory occupation of
the ruins.
Most of the objects found date from the first period,
and were preserved in good condition in the earth of the
second; objects ranging from the 3d to the 20th c. were
dug from 40-50 cm of soil. The fact that anything of
real interest must have been taken away before the excavation explains the poverty of this list: 12 bronze
fibulas, a horseshoe, a silver spoon (cochlear), a wrought-bronze key, fragments of Greek marble, and several
thousand pottery sherds, about 900 of them in terra
sigillata. Some of the latter are Italian in origin, especially the fragments of a decorated cup of the type Drag.
11, one of which is marked with the owner's name,
Attius, and a fragment of a dish signed Synhistor, a potter of Arezzo. The other sherds come from potteries in
SE and central Gaul; some, extremely rare, originated
in Argoune. The range of imports demonstrates that the
villa enjoyed greatest prosperity from the reign of Augustus to the advent of the Flavii.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gallia (1964-66, 1968, 1970) reports;
Forum 840 (1972), 852 (1973).
R. SOULIGNAC
