VETUS PICTAVIS
(Vieux Poitiers) Commune of
Naintre, Vienne, France.
A Gallo-Roman vicus,
built in the 1st c. A.D. The center was a continuation of
a Celtic settlement, an oppidum which stretched 1500 m
along the hill separating the rivers Clain and Vienne.
The construction of the town follows ancient norms in
its ritual arrangement of the cardo and the decumanus.
Aerial photography, checked on the ground, has led to
the discovery of the lines of these two main streets and
several others: the streets form a grid. The site covers
more than 70 ha. The vicus seems to have been most
prosperous in the 1st c. A.D. and in the first half of the
2d c. The carving on stones is characteristic of the 1st
c., and the use of marble, porphyry, and other imported
stones is characteristic of the 2d c.
The vicus began to decline in the 2d c. although some
villas continued to be inhabited. Ancient remains found
in the fields attest the continuity of human occupation
in the Gallo-Roman period. Although no buildings have
been located in the central area, the fields, now under
cultivation, conceal many walls and abundant scattered
ancient remains.
Many remains are still visible. In the middle of the
town is an unfinished menhir of Cenomanian sandstone,
bearing a Celtic inscription (RATIN BRIVATION FRONTU
TARBELSONIOS IEURU). The cellar of La Font des Berthons, excavated in 1969, was built in the 2d c. and cut into a floor of Gallic date. The potter's kiln of Las Groseillers was excavated in 1971. It probably dates to the
2d c. A.D. and has produced ca. 50 kg of ordinary pottery. The theater is large (diam. 115 m) and of Classical
type. It is the fifth largest Gallo-Roman theater, and has
been the object of many investigations during the 18th,
19th, and 20th c. It has been excavated since 1963, and
has given data that permits a reconstruction of the history both of the building and of the people who inhabited the site. Built for spectacles, it was used for
somewhat precarious dwellings during the final Gallo-Roman centuries, and then became a quarry. To date, the excavations have produced 151 coins, 25 rings (one of gold), 5 bronze fibulas, 30 bone pins or needles, a large
number of potsherds, and interesting artifacts of bone
and metal.
All the investigations carried out on the site help
make this, archaeologically high point of Poitou, a center for the discovery of the ways of life of the Celtic population, the Pictones of Pictaves.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Note: Vieux-Poitiers has often been
confused with Poitiers, ca. 30 km away.
Texts:
Commentaries of Caesar (siege of Poitiers);
Annals of Eginhard (division of the kingdom in 742
between Charlemagne and Pepin); Gregory of Tours,
Historia Francorum (Battle of Poitiers, which took place
in 732 near Vieux-Poitiers); J. Bouquet,
Annals of the
Franks (Charter of Charles the Bald in favor of the
Abbey of St. Florent-le-Vieux, signed at Vieux-Poitiers
in 849); the oldest testimony mentioning the ruins of
the theater and nearby monuments dates from 1408.
Excavation reports: E. Ginot, “Fouilles à Vieux Poitiers,”
Bull. Soc. Française des fouilles arch. (1941); R.
Fritsch, “Nouvelles fouilles à Vieux-Poitiers, Commune
de Naintre,”
Bull. Soc. Antiquaires de l'Ouest (July-Sept. 1969); id.,
Bull. Soc. des Sciences de Chatellerault 6 (1969).
On the site: De la Massardière, “Esquisses Archéologiques sur le Vieux-Poitiers,”
Bull. Soc. des Antiquaires de l'Ouest 3 (1837) 103-19; C. Page, “Conférence sur le Vieux-Poitiers,”
Bull. Groupe Chatelleraudais (1905).
Menhir and inscription: E. Esperandieu,
Epigraphie
romaine du Poitou et de la Saintonge (1888) 107;
Dechelette & Grenier,
Manuel 3 (1914) 435; E. Ernault,
“Notes sur l'inscription du Vieux-Poitiers,”
Revue Poitevine et Saintongeaise 5; E. Grugeaud, “Nouvel essai
de traduction de l'inscription du menhir” (mimeo 1967).
Selected references: Thibeaudeau,
Histoire du Poitou
(1839) 430ff; R. Delanoue, “Memoire” (1780) repr. sn
Bull. de la Soc. d'Emulation de Chatellerault 2 (1840);
Bourignon (de Saintes), “Dissertation sur l'endroit appelé Vieux-Poitiers,” ibid. 56ff; E. Siauve, “Sepultures
antiques du Vieux-Poitiers,” ibid. 3 (1841); A. Lalanne,
Histoire de Chatelleraud et du Chatelleraudais 1 (1859)
75ff; M. de la Tour,
La capitale du Poitou sous les Gaulois et les Romains (1881); E. Esperandieu,
Recueil général des bas-reliefs de la Gaule romaine (1907-) 2, nos. 1407, 1415, 1424; G. Dottin,
La langue gualoise (1920).
R. FRITSCH
