VARISCOURT
Aisne, France.
Site of a Gallic
oppidum in the Laon arrondissement, canton of Neuchatel sur Aisne, at the boundary of the communes of Variscourt and Pignicourt. Situated in the area known as Viel Reims, this oppidum is the largest in ancient
Belgica, covering close to 170 ha.
The site has not been thoroughly excavated, but chance
finds and salvage operations have revealed two types of
occupation: one dating from Iron Age I (marlaceous
facies), the other, more important, from Iron Age III.
In the actual bed of the Aisne was found a superb bronze
helmet, now in the Soissons museum. The site was skirted
by two major Roman roads, from Reims to Arras to the
W and Reims to Bavay to the E. The city was apparently
still occupied in the Roman period, and must have been
connected with the river commerce of the Remi; it lies
at the head of navigation of the Aisne.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
E. Will,
Gallia 25, 2 (1967) 189; G.
Lobjois, “La nécropole gauloise de Pernant,”
Celticum 18 (1967) 3-6.
P. LEMAN
