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CHALONS-SUR-MARNE (“Durocatalaunum”) Marne, France.

City of the Catalauni in Champagne, at the confluence of the Maine and some of its small tributaries and on the Lyon-Boulogne road. It did not become the center of a civitas, separate from that of the Remi, probably until the Late Empire. A small castrum, it has yielded no traces of public buildings and little is known of its plan.

On the other hand the abundant potsherds (especially Gallo-Belgic ware and terra sigillata), metal objects, and burial gifts (Rue Carnot, Rue St. Dominique, Rue des Vieilles Casernes, Rue des Viviers, and around the Place de la Comédie) point to a sizable settlement from as early as the middle of the 1st c. A.D. In some places the continuity of the finds goes up to the 4th c. Weights used by weavers and fishermen and iron slag indicate that craftsmen worked in the settlement, but as yet a very few architectural blocks and some marble fragments are the only signs of a settlement on a truly urban scale.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eutrope 9.13; Amm. Marc. 15.11.10; 27.2.4; Not. Galliarum 6.3.

L. Grignon, Topographie historique de la yule de Châlons (1889); R. Lemoine, Mém. Soc. d'Agriculture, Commerce, Sciences et Arts du Département de la Marne 13 (1909-10) 297-328; F. Vercauteren, Etude sur les civitates de la Belgique Seconde (1934); E. Frézouls, Gallia 29 (1971) 293f; 31 (1973) 409f.

E. FRÉEZOULS

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