TAVIERS
Belgium.
A Gallo-Roman vicus
on the Bavai-Tongres road. The ancient name was probably Tabernae, which would indicate that a mansio of
the cursus publicus was located there. Many foundations
have been found at the locality of Terre aux Pierres, N
of the roadway. The beginnings of the center go back
to the first half of the 1st c. and maybe even to the end
of the Iron Age. An inscription mentions the presence of
a well with medicinal waters, dedicated to Apollo. Among
the foundations were those of a temple. Many pieces
of sculpture have been found, including a fine torso of
an ephebe in white stone. The vicus was destroyed during one of the first Frankish invasions, shortly after A.D.
250. Shortly thereafter, a small blocking fort was built,
almost square in plan and surrounded by a ditch 4 m
wide. It was built on the ruins of the temple mentioned
above, on the W edge of the vicus. Soon the fort was
rebuilt and surrounded with wider ditches (8 m on the
E side, 11 on the S, and 14 on the W). The slopes of
these ditches were set with fascines placed 20 to 30 cm
apart from one another. The inside of the ditch was
reinforced by two rows of stakes which formed a high
palisade for surveillance by the patrol. Apparently the
first burgus was destroyed around A.D. 275 and rebuilt
immediately. A hoard of coins, buried in the bottom of
the ditches of the burgus in the time of Valentinian I
(364-78), may indicate the end of the Roman occupation. The large tumulus of Hottomont had a diameter of 48 m and a height of more than 10 m. Its rich grave goods were pillaged during the wars of Louis XIV.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
P. Claes, “Découvertes de l'époque romaine à Taviers,”
Annales de la Soc. archéol. de Namur 47 (1953-54) 225-55; L. Halkin, “L'inscription romaine
de Taviers,” ibid. 257-65; M. E. Mariën,
Par la chaussée
Brunehaut de Bavai à Cologne (1967) 68-73
PI.
S. J. DE LAET
