TRIGUÈRES
Loiret, France.
This is the most
important site in the Ouanne valley. It was discovered
when a road was cut across the valley linking Sens to
Montbouy by way of Courtenay and St.-Maurice-sur-Aveyron. In the Gallic period an oppidum commanded
the crossroads; it was surrounded by an earthwork vallum
that can still be seen today. The site was excavated in
1857-62. The chief monuments (none of which remain)
were a theater, a huge quadrilateral ringed with porticos
(a forum?), a temple built around a menhir and another
temple with a square cella (both NW of the theater),
some baths, a house, and a funerary pit. The complex
has the characteristics of conciliabula, i.e., social centers
for a population of small and medium farmers scattered
over a fairly broad area. Particularly characteristic is the
fact that the theater and the great quadrilateral are connected; the latter monument would seem to belong to the
category of double forums (of the Paris and Augst
type) frequently encountered in conciliabula (notably at
Sanxay and Tours Mirandes).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Grenier,
Manuel d'archéologie gallo-romaine III, 2 (1958) 944ff; André Nouel,
Les origines
gallo-romaines du Sud du Bassin Parisien (1968).
G. C. PICARD
