LIBERCHIES
Belgium.
Vicus of the civitas
Tungrorum on the Bavai-Tongres road. The vicus has
sometimes been identified with the Geminiacum of the
Antonine Itinerary (378) and the Geminico vico of the
Peutinger Table. However, the distances given by the
two documents are contradictory. It is just as likely
that Geminiacum was located at Baudecet. The vicus
of the Early Empire was situated at the modern Les
Bons Villers on either side of the Bavai-Tongres road.
It is on a well-orientated plateau which dominates the
surrounding region; it has a spring, now called La Fontaine des Turcs, which provides abundant water. The
settlement must have grown up during the period of
Augustus, when the road was built. The road was flanked
on both sides by boundary ditches about 20 m from
the middle of the road. These very probably were used
to establish the land survey register. Later on these
ditches no longer were preserved, at least inside the vicus
itself. Inside the vicus some streets have been traced
which were parallel and perpendicular to the road. The
foundations of several dwellings have been brought to
light, some made of fine masonry, some of wood and
of wattle and daub. Some dwellings were provided with
porticos facing the street. Several cellars have been excavated. The vicus had a certain number of wells, three of
which have been excavated. The lower part of one was
lined with wood and above this with calcareous stones
placed on top of one another without mortar. The well
was abandoned during the first invasions of the Franks in
the 3d c. In it have been found a spearhead, the butt
of a javelin, a boss of a shield, and a pair of leather
sandals with six rows of nails in each sole. The potter's
district was located in the E part of the vicus. To date
five kilns have been excavated there. They are circular
or oval in plan and have thick bottoms of terracotta
pierced with holes. They had the rather exceptional
diameter of 2.5 m. They were in use at the end of the 2d
c. and the beginning of the 3d, producing large quantities of ordinary wares for daily use.
The talus of the spring of La Fontaine des Turcs was
protected by a collection of horizontal beams and it was
surrounded by a rather wide pavement. It may be safe
to suggest that here was a small sanctuary dedicated to
a native divinity of springs.
Not far away a vase was found on whose foot is a
graffito reading MER(curio) ET APOL(lini), indicating
that the vase was an offering to the two gods. Another
sanctuary was located on the N outskirts of the vicus.
In the middle of a rectangular enclosure (100 x 76 m)
stood a fanum with a square cella, 13 m on a side. The
fanum was surrounded by a peristyle with columns of
white stone and an interior width of 4 m. Pieces of
plasterwork with painted decoration in red, green, yellow, and white come from the interior decoration of the
cella. A piece of an altar discovered in the foundations
of the castellum of Brunehaut (see below) may come
from this temple. In that case, it would have been dedicated to Jupiter. A hoard of 368 gold coins from Nero
to Lucius Verus seems to have been buried some years
after A.D. 166.
The large number of finds made at Liberchies attest
to the prosperity of the vicus during the Early Empire.
However, it was ravaged during the first invasions of
the Franks in 253-55, as many traces of fire attest. Immediately after these invasions, the Roman authorities
(probably the emperor Postumus) ordered the construction of a burgus straddling the roadway in the
vicus itself. It formed a quadrilateral (66 x 80 m), surrounded by a moat 14 m wide. Inside the moat, ca. 2 m
from the top, was a solid wooden palisade. Four m
farther toward the interior of the fort, an earthen bank
was erected. It was reinforced with stakes and supported
a second palisade. If Liberchies is Geminiacum (see
above), one may suppose that the Geminiacenses mentioned in the
Notitia Dignitatum (
occ. 5.97; 246; 7.87)
owed their name to the fact that they had been stationed as the garrison of this burgus. Nevertheless, the
burgus was destroyed shortly afterwards, during the
Frankish invasions of the year 268 or 275. A new
castellum was built 2 km farther W at the hamlet of
Brunehaut on a hillock protected to the N and E by
swampy meadows. Thus, it occupied a much better
strategic position than the preceding burgus. This new
fortification was ca. 200 m square. It was surrounded
on its S and W flanks by a moat 12 m wide and 4.5 m
deep. The area thus protected was surrounded by a
palisade. Under Constantine the structure of the castellum was changed and the palisades replaced by thick
stone walls. This new fort (56.5 x 45 m) was much
smaller than the earlier one. The corners were provided
with big round towers jutting out from the ramparts.
The foundations of the ramparts were made of blocks
taken from the ruined buildings of the vicus (for example, the altar mentioned above). The ramparts themselves were 2.8 m thick. A rubble core drowned in
yellow-brown mortar is pressed between two facings of
small, white sandstone blocks. The cheek-piece of a
helmet was found in a trench. East of the fort, between
the wall and the swamp, was erected a small basilica-shaped building with an apse at one end. We do not
know whether it was a bath building or a Christian
sanctuary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. De Maeyer,
De Overblijfselen van
de Romeinsche Villa's in België (1940) 77-78; H. van
de Weerd,
Inleiding tot de Gallo-Romeinsche archeologie
der Nederlanden (1944) 74-75; P. Claes & E. Milliau,
“Liberchies-les Bons Villers,”
Bull. de la Soc. royale belge
d'anthropologie (1958) 67-74
PI; Claes, “Les fossés-limites de la chaussée Bavai-Cologne dans la région de
Liberchies,”
Helinium 9 (1969) 138-50
PI; Y. Graff,
“Découverte d'un fortin romain aux Bons-Villers, Liberchies,”
Documents et rapports de la soc. arch. de Charlerot 50 (1955-60) 41-63
PI; B. Milliau, “Las monnaies
romaines de Brunehaut-Liberchies,”
Rev. de numismatique 109 (1963) 11-36; M. B. Mariën,
Par la Chaussée
Brunehaut (1967) 41-52
PI; R. Brulet, “Essor commercial et développement économique du vicus de Liberchies,”
Rev. des arch. et historiens d'Art de Louvain 2
(1969) 39-46; id., “Fossés d'époque augustéenne &
Liberchies,”
Documents et Rapports de la Soc. arch. de
Charleroi 54 (1969) 43-54; M. Thirion,
Le trésor de
Liberchies (1972)
MPI.
S. J. DE LAET
