COMPIERRE
(Bois de) Dept. Nièvre, France.
Hidden on a small rise in the Compierre woods, between St. Révérien and Champallement, is a whole
Gallo-Roman village covering an area some 900 m long
and between 100 and 300 m wide.
Situated on the Entrains-Autun road, this vicus was
inhabited from the beginning of the Empire to the end
of the 4th c., when it was laid waste, as were most of
the ancient sites in these parts, and finally abandoned.
In official excavations, carried out a long time ago, the
plan of the town was located; it included a theater
linked by a cardo to a galleried octagonal fanum; the
interior of the cella of this fanum is circular. (See Champellement for a more detailed description.)
Numerous objects have been discovered in clandestine
digging, as well as many workshops and houses, some
of them with cellars. Judging from the slag heaps found
on the site, iron-working must have played a very active
part in the economy of this large settlement which,
however, is scarcely represented in the museums.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boniard, “Mém. sur les ruines d'une
villa gallo-romaine, Clamecy, Cégrétin” (June 1842)
MP;
G. Charleuf, “Mém. sur les fouilles de Saint Révérien
(Nièvre),”
Mém. de la Soc. Eduenne (Autumn 1844)
319-36
I; id. in
Annuaire de la Nièvre (1845) 28-43;
Barat & Duvivier,
Rapport à M. le Préfet de la Nièvre
sur les ruines gallo-romaines de Saint Révérien (1845);
Baudouin,
Rapport sur les travaux ordonnés par . . . dans les ruines gallo-romaines de Saint-Révéien, Congrès arch. de France, 1852 (1853) 292-302; E. Harris,
“Communication à l'Assemblée de la Soc. des Fouilles
arch. de L'Yonne à Saint Père-sous-Vézelay” (18 Sept. 1938); id.,
Mém. de la Soc. Académique du Nivernais
41 (1939); L. Coursier, “Les fouilles de Compierre près
de Saint Révérien,”
Annales de Bourgogne 20 (1948) 65-67.
J.-B. DEVAUGES
