ETAPLES
Pas de Calais, France.
In the Montreuil arrondissement; chief town in the canton. A little
port at the mouth of the Canche. In 1842 excavations
were carried out on the site of the chateau: several layers of tombs were unearthed as well as many foundations of rectangular houses dating from the Roman
period. The excavators' plans show the site as a sizeable
vicus. Furthermore, the foundations of a very large
Roman tower have been interpreted as belonging to a
fortification built in Diocletian's reign; these may be
remains of a Late Empire castrum. A large number of
fibulas were discovered in chance finds as well as hoards
of coins. More recently a collection of coins was discovered by chance N of Etaples, along the Boulogne
road (liards); now in the Quentovic museum in Etaples,
it consisted of 3791 coins ranging from Septimus Severus
to Postumus. The area called Les Sablins S of the city
has been under excavation since 1965, and several isolated rectangular houses have been unearthed. Pebble
floors and some large collections of shells have been
found beneath the sand, and two wells have been located. The settlement appears to have lasted no later than
the 2d c. To the N is a small cremation necropolis
where some beautiful specimens of pottery with animal
motifs, of the Castor type, have been found. Although
these digs have made it possible to locate the vicus of
Les Sablins they have not produced a decisive argument
in favor of the thesis that Etaples was Quentovic.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
G. Souquet,
Histoire chronologique de
Quentovic et d'Etaples 1 (1863); “Rapport sur les fouilles d'Etaples,”
Bull. de la Coin. des Mon. Hist. du Pas
de Calais 2 (1866) 270; A. S. de Ricci, “Note sur
quelques antiquités romaines trouvées à Etaples,”
BAntFr (1897) 338-50; J. B. Giard, “Le trésor
d'Etaples,”
RN 6 ser., 7 (1965) 206-24.
P. LEMAN
