SORCY-SAINT-MARTIN
Meuse, France.
Dominating the valley of the Meuse, the village of Sorcy,
and the old abbey of Saint-Martin, the Cote-Chatel has
been a center of religious activity from ancient times until the end of the 18th c. Excavations undertaken in 1967
revealed the existence of a Gallo-Roman fanum on the
site. It was approximately square (average length of
sides: 19.4 m) with a cella inside, also square (average
length of sides: 7.4 m). The pottery and coins found
date the destruction of the monument to the end of the 4th c.
A necropolis surrounded the foundations of the above
building. The almost total lack of grave goods makes it
hard to date, but some sarcophagus burials are from
Merovingian times.
Below the edifice the remains of two other temples
have been identified. They have the same plan as the
other, but are smaller in size. Their construction seems
to go back to the 1st c. A.D.: architectural and sculptural
debris and 1st c. coins and fibulae were found in a pit
belonging to the first period of construction. An architectural ornament depicting a mask of Apollo also seems to
belong to one of the two monuments of the first period;
it fits pieces of gabling discovered in the talus surrounding the more recent building.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. Billoret in
Gallia 26 (1968); 28
(1970); 30 (1972).
R. BILLORET
