VEDÈNE
(“Vindalium”) Vaucluse, France.
A commune 9 km NE of Avignon. It has been identified
by certain scholars with the ancient Vindalium of Strabo,
where the famous battle was fought in 120 B.C. between
the Roman legions of consul Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus
and the Gallic army of the Allobroges aided by the
Voconces. In 1965, at the place called Confines, Aiguille
quarter, several large blocks of calcareous sandstone, in
a row, were uncovered. Hasty probes carried out underwater revealed no archeological deposit but confirmed
the existence of the foundations of two parallel walls of
considerable height running NE-SW, ca. 1.5 m apart
and constructed of stone blocks arranged either lengthwise or as headers. One of the blocks is decorated on one side, above two string moldings and one level molding, with a plant scroll with rosettes and quadrilobate flowers. This is apparently a rampart wall, with some reused materials, perhaps belonging to the monument erected by the Romans to commemorate their victory
(according to the Latin historian Annius Florus).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. F. d'Urban,
Antiquités et monuments
du département de Vaucluse (1808); J. Courtet,
Dictionnaire des communes du département de Vaucluse (1876); A. Sagnier, “Vindalium,”
Mémoires de l'Académie de Vaucluse (1891); “Informations,”
Gallia 25, 2
(1967)
I.
A. DUMOULIN
