PIERREFONDS
Arrondissement of Compiègne, canton of Attichy, Oise, France.
A Gallo-Roman
vicus, the largest and best preserved of Belgic Gaul, on
the Roman road from Soissons to Senlis and at the W
border of the civitas of the Suessiones. Some of its houses
fronted the street and some were set back with porticos.
Most of them were originally dug to some depth and were
heated by hypocausts. In the center of the vicus a temple-fanum and a bath complex were uncovered. Around the
temple and S of it an immense Merovingian cemetery
was found (ca. 2000 sarcophagi).
These above discoveries were made 1866-70. In 1966
the Roman road was excavated at several points, the
ground plan of the houses determined, and the existence
of earlier habitations revealed by study of the stratigraphy. Occupation of the site does not appear to have
survived the catastrophes of the Late Empire. Exploration of the surrounding area has indicated almost 50 ha of remains.
The finds from the 19th c. excavations are in the
Musée des Antiquités Nationales, and the recent ones
at the Pierrefonds town hall.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. Digues, “Les Fouilles de la Ville des
Gaules (Le Mont Berny a Pierrefonds),”
Revue du
Nord 155 (1967) 691-701; M. Jouve, “Découverte d'un
statère d'or . . .,”
Gallia 30 (1972) 274-75.
P. LEMAN
