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The Ribemont-sur-Ancre
site overlooks the Ancre Valley, north-east of Amiens. It
covers an area of over 80 hectares. A Gallo-Roman town was
built there on the site of a very large Celtic trophy, the
only one of its kind that we know of.
Discovered by Roger Agache during his first
aerial survey campaigns at the beginning of the 1960s, it
is one of 17 archaeological sites listed as having national
importance. Since 1990, it has been excavated by a team from
the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research). The archaeological
centre's premises, where it is based, are also a reception
area and exhibition space.
History of the excavations
While flying over the site for the first time, in 1963,
Roger Agache thought he had discovered the remains of a very
large Gallo-Roman villa. The first series of excavations,
in 1966 and 1967, showed that it was in fact a large town
dominated by a temple. Between 1967 and 1981, the main buildings
of the Gallo-Roman site, the temple, the theatre and thermae,
were examined by the Students' Archaeology Society of the
Amiens University under the guidance of J.L. Cadoux. In 1982,
the discovery of a remarkable construction built with hundreds
of criss-crossed human bones, the "ossuary", revealed the
Celtic origin of this Gallo-Roman place of worship.
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This discovery won Ribemont international
fame.
Since 1990, excavation of the site
has been conducted by a multidisciplinary team composed
of scientists from a number of research units of the
CNRS, the University and the Ecole Normale Supérieure
(prestigious university), under the guidance of Jean-Louis
Brunaux, one of the biggest specialists in Celtic religion.
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The Celtic trophy
At the end of the IIIrd century BC, a few hundred metres
from the oldest burial mounds, a ditch 3.50 metres wide and
the same deep was dug to delimit an area measuring fifty metres
on each side.
Inside this enclosure were uncovered the remains of conquered
enemies. The Ribemont site, where the excavations are still
going on, has already yielded several thousands of bones belonging
to over 400 warriors, amongst which they have only found ten
skull fragments. It was customary for the Celts to cut off
the heads of their enemies and keep them as personal trophies,
whereas the bodies and weapons belonged to the community and
the tutelary deity.
At Ribemont, different ways of treating the corpses have
been revealed. The most common was to display the headless
body; it decomposed slowly on its wooden support and finally
collapsed on the ground where it was left. Another method
was to dismember the body, and the arms and legs were used
as building materials in ossuary-type structures, three examples
of which have been found in the excavations. The best preserved
was originally a cube measuring 1.70 m on each side, with
a height of around 1 m. At the centre of this structure, a
cylindrical ditch with a depth of 90 cm and a diameter of
30 cm was used as a receptacle for the offerings: burnt human
and horse bones.
A reconstruction of a group of three
bodies as they were found in the excavation, is on display
in one of the archaeological rooms of the Picardy
Museum .
The silence of history
Le site de Ribemont semble
avoir été fondé consécutivement à une importante bataille
dont l'histoire n'a pas conservé le souvenir.
Les Belges, une population celtique
originaire d'Europe centrale, arrivent dans le nord de la
Gaule dans le courant du IIIème siècle avant J.C. Le trophée
de Ribemont garde vraisemblablement la mémoire des violents
combats qui ont accompagné l'installation de la tribu belge
des Ambiens sur le territoire géographique de la Somme.
Qui étaient leurs ennemis ? Peut-être
d'autres Celtes, ceux qui contrôlaient alors le littoral et
une partie de l'arrière-pays. Cette hypothèse est étayée par
la découverte parmi les dépôts osseux du sol ancien, de monnaies
qui trouvent leur plus proche équivalent en Haute-Normandie.
A l'époque gallo-romaine, un lieu
de culte public
The Ribemont site seems to have been built following
a large battle, of which there is no known record.
The Belgae, a Celtic people originally from Central Europe,
arrived in Northern Gaul during the IIIrd century BC. The
Ribemont trophy is probably a memorial to the violent struggles
that accompanied the arrival of the Belgae tribe, the Ambiens,
on the geographical territory of the Somme.
Who were their enemies? Perhaps other Celts, who at that
time controlled the coastline and a part of the hinterland.
This theory is supported by the discovery, amongst the bone
deposits in the ancient ground, of coins which most resemble
those found in Upper Normandy.
In the Gallo-Roman period, a place of public worship After
the Roman conquest, at the end of the Ist century BC, this
holy place underwent a profound transformation.
The remains of the trophy were levelled and covered with
earth. In its place came a true place of worship betraying
Roman influence; the original temple was built at the centre
of the primitive sacred enclosure, previously delimited by
a strong fence built partly on the outline of the old filled
ditch. The practice of animal sacrifice, previously unknown,
became widespread.
During the Ist century AD, modifications to the sanctuary
gave it a more monumental look, stone constructions taking
the place of the old wooden buildings. A tiled portico allowed
the faithful to wander around the sacred enclosure, where
the temple stood decorated with marble and its walls adorned
with paintings.
In the IInd century the layout of the site was highly distinctive;
lined up on a central axis at the centre of a series of squares,
were an amphitheatre and thermae, overlooked by a new temple,
of classical Roman architecture. On either side of these public
squares, living accommodation lined the roads. It is this
ensemble that shows up most clearly on the aerial photographs.
The Archaeological Centre
Housed at the centre of the village, in an old farm
converted by the Departmental Council, the Ribemont-sur-Ancre
Departmental Architectural Centre has several functions :
• A place of study including:
- laboratories (study of human bones, metallic and ceramic
matter)
- excavation store - information centre
- an accommodation centre for researchers and volunteers taking
part in scientific work
• It is also open to the public:
- exhibition rooms open to the general public, school groups,
as well as researchers.
Practical info
Opening times
Open from Monday to Friday (except French bank
holidays), 9 am-12:30 am and 1:30 pm-5 pm (from 15/04 to 31/10
: from Monday to Saturday, opening time : 9:30 am)
Prices
Adults : 4 €
Children (over 10) : 2 €
Centre archéologique
départemental
9 place du Général de Gaulle
80 800 RIBEMONT SUR ANCRE
Tel : +33 (0)3 22 40 64 66 Fax : +33 (0)3 22 40 62 93
E-mail : cadra@somme.fr
Website : www.ribemontsurancre.cg80.fr
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