Nemausus on Gardens of the Roman Empire

21, rue Séguier, An Agricultural Establishment

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Ancient Roman colony (founded 118 BCE) and senatorial province located in modern southern France, along the Mediterranean. This province had stronger cultural and political ties to Italy than the rest of Gaul.

Location

Sublocation

21, rue Séguier, An Agricultural Establishment

House

21, rue Séguier, An Agricultural Establishment

Keywords

House Description

This site is east of the ancient town, 300 meters from the wall of High Empire times. It was found during an emergency salvage excavation of rue Séguier in 1992-93. An agricultural use of the soil during the second and first centuries B.C. is indicated by ceramics for carrying waste water to the fields and by planting holes. Then a building was constructed around A.D. 30 only to be rapidly abandoned between A.D. 70 and 80. The stones of the building were carried off at the end of the first century, and two burials made around 80-100. The house is organized around a rectangular courtyard (14.3 by 9 meters) surrounded by galleries known on three sides and presumed on the fourth. The floor of these passage ways was of pounded earth covered, in places, by a bed of fragments of amphora and dolia.

In the central part of the courtyard were found a series of horticultural pots, some in place in their trench, others uncovered during the excavation. A total of nine pots were found during the excavation of the whole sector. Three were discovered in situ in the courtyard against the north-west wall. Two more were found at the ends of the gallery in trenches dug after the house was abandoned to get out the stones of the adjacent walls. These pots the excavator placed in the corners. Two more have been restored in the alignment at equal distance from the others, modern operations having disrupted this part of the line. The excavator thus reconstructed a line of seven pots presumably for ornamental plantings along the outside of the portico.

Plans

Fig. 1 Plan of 21, rue Séguier, An Agricultural Establishment

Fig. 2 Detail plan of 21, rue Séguier, An Agricultural Establishment

Dates

B.C. 1-100 Agricultural use of the soil A.D. 30 A building constructed A.D 70-80 The building abandoned A.D 80-100 Two burials made

Bibliography

J.L. Fiches, A. Veyrac, Nîmes, CAG, 30/1, 1996, P. 127.
Y. Manniez, A. Recolin, fiche Nîmes, 21, rue Séguier (Gard) in Forme de l'habitat rural en Gaule Narbonnaise, n° 2, ed. APDCA, Juan-les-Pins, 1994, 6 p.
S. Barberan, Un aménagement horticole dans la cour d'un établissement pré-urbain à Nîmes (Gard) in Bulletin de l'Ecole antique de Nîmes, P. 67-22.(worldcat)

Places

Domus de La Marseillaise

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Sublocation

Domus de La Marseillaise

House

Domus de La Marseillaise

Keywords

House Description

390 meters north of the Maison Carrée, salvage excavations in 1966 found this dwelling dating from the high Empire and in use for some two centuries. The main entrance was probably on the south. The building was organized around a courtyard with porticos, paved with white mosaics, on three sides. From them, open the living spaces of the house. Onto the northern wing opens the principal room (19.6 square meters) in the form of an exedra flanked by two pilasters. It opens entirely onto the northern gallery. {What does "entirely" mean? }

At the time of the excavation, the central part of the courtyard (32.5 square meters) contained only earth. A trench cut at that time by V. Lassalle revealed a depression filled with stones which may indicate a pool that was suppressed at a later stage. The presence, in a first phase, of a garden with a pool of unknown size is possible. At a certain time, the courtyard was modified, destroying the pool and putting a wall on the line of the stylobate of the northern portico, thus reducing the view and the lighting of the principal room.

Plans

Plan of Domus de La Marseillaise

Dates

A.D. 40-60 Built

Bibliography

Archéologie À Nîmes: Bilan De 40 Années De Recherches Et Découvertes : 1950-1990 : Ville De Nîmes, Musée Archéologique, Juin 1990. Nîmes: Musée archéologique, 1990, P. 141-144. (worldcat)
1. J.L. Fiches, A. Veyrac, Nîmes, CAG, 30/1, 1996, P. 127.
P.Gros, J. Guyon, Ph. Leveau, dir.,La maison urbaine d'époque romaine, Atlas des maisons de la Gaule narbonnaise, t. II, Doc. d'Archéol. Vaucl, 6, 1996, Nîmes, fiche n°3 P. 194-195.(worldcat)
M. Monteil, Nîmes antique et sa proche campagne, Monographie d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne, 3, 1999, P. 139-144.(worldcat)
Garmy, Pierre, and Martial Monteil. Le Quartier Antique Des Bénédictins À Nîmes (gard): Découvertes Anciennes Et Fouilles, 1966-1992. Paris: Editions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme, 2000, P. 64-73.(worldcat)

Places

Horticultural pots

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Sublocation

House B, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

21, rue Séguier, An Agricultural Establishment

House

House B, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

21, rue Séguier, An Agricultural Establishment

Keywords

oscilla

Element Description

The archeologists of Nîmes have been particularly sensitive to the presence of horticultural pots. Besides those noted above (House B des Villégiales and 21, rue Séguier), Sébastien Barberan has noted their discovery, out of context, in several excavations: in 1982 at St. Joseph's clinic; in 1993, seven pots at îlot Grill near the amphitheater; and in 1996, at the Ilôt Thérond and in the excavation for the "Quick".

Bibliography

S. Barberan, Un aménagement horticole dans la cour d'un établissement pré-urbain à Nîmes (Gard) in Bulletin de l'Ecole antique de Nîmes, P. 71, n.8.(worldcat)

Places

House B, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Sublocation

House B, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

House

House B, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

Keywords

House Description

This site is 300 meters east of the big spring de la Fontaine at the foot of Mt. Cavalier. The house, discovered during an emergency dig in 1991-92, is not well preserved. Built in the middle of the first century, it seems to have existed until the middle of the second century. Though not very luxurious, it had however some opus signinum with geometric patterns of tessera. It is noteworthy, however, that in contrast to other houses in Nîmes of the same period, it seems to have had running water supplied by lead-lined canals in a utility tunnel in direct connection to the town water house. Covering a little more than 170 square meters, the dwelling is organized around a garden, which has been explored in an area of 8 by 6 meters, but which must have been somewhat longer and probably had an area of about 72 square meters. Along the east, west, and north sides ran galleries paved in opus signinum with inlays. On the north side, slightly off-center toward the west, there was a small reception room in the form of an exedra (4.8 by 3.8 m).

Planting in the garden is well attested by the discovery of nine horticultural pots of globular, ovoid, or truncated conical form made of a pale clay with three fairly large holes on the base of the pot. In all cases where the bottom was present, it had been scooped out before firing. {Does "scooped out" make sense?} They were found in place in circular ditches or at the extremities of long, parallel trenches which may have played a role in the irrigation of the plants. There seems to have been a certain symmetry in the placement of the pots relative to the two straight ditches.

The site had not been disturbed, whence the good state of preservation of the pots, but palynological analysis has not been able to establish the species of the plants on the basis of pollens. Post holes near the trenches, of which three have been identified thanks to wedging stones still in place, may indicate the presence of stakes to support climbing plants.

At the south of the garden there is a well which may have supplied the house before the connection to city water was installed; it could also have been used to water the garden. The absence of ceramic material in the ditches makes precise dating of them impossible, but the general context suggests a date in the first century A.D. for the establishment of the garden. A dump dug in the garden allows dating of one of the principal phases of occupation of the building to A.D. 60 to 90.

Plans

Fig. 1 Plan of House B, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

Fig. 2 Plan of House B, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

Dates

A.D. 1-100 Built A.D. 60-90 One of the principal phases of occupation

Bibliography

J.L. Fiches, A. Veyrac, Nîmes, CAG, 30/1, 1996.
P.Gros, J. Guyon, Ph. Leveau, dir.,La maison urbaine d'époque romaine, Atlas des maisons de la Gaule narbonnaise, t. II, Doc. d'Archéol. Vaucl, 6, 1996, Nîmes, fiche n°6 P. 200-201.(worldcat)
M. Monteil, Nîmes antique et sa proche campagne, Monographie d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne, 3, 1999, P. 130-135.(worldcat)
Garmy, Pierre, and Martial Monteil. Le Quartier Antique Des Bénédictins À Nîmes (gard): Découvertes Anciennes Et Fouilles, 1966-1992. Paris: Editions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme, 2000, P. 74-90, P 173-181.(worldcat)

Places

House C, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Sublocation

House C, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

House

House C, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

Keywords

stairs (series of steps)AAT:300003228

House Description

House C is 300 meters east of the source of the big spring at the foot of Mt. Cavalier, at the northwest point of an block of houses and bordered by a north-south road paved with flagstones. Built during the years A.D. 40-60, it seems to have been occupied until the middle of the second century. {I do not understand "IIe dernier": "the second last." ???} The surface explored during the salvage excavations in 1991 covers about 810 square meters, with about 300 square meters of useful covered surface. The eastern part is unknowable because of destruction by modern operations. This part would have brought the total surface to more than 1000 square meters. How the whole of the place worked together remains, however, very hard to follow, for there has been an almost total loss of the floors and thresholds of the living areas. At a break in the slope of the land on the north side was placed a utility tunnel with lead pipes for bringing in running water. It defines the northern limit of the house. On the south, a courtyard [1], associated with a frequently rearranged zone [2] was bordered on the north by a series of three rooms with floor levels differing by 70 cm to 1 meter. Such a pronounced difference in levels would imply stairs in front of these spaces, but none has been found. This courtyard of at least 111 square meters yielded only a few traces of the paleosol on the bedrock. In a circular pit 3.90 meters in diameter and a little off-center to the south, was a pool. While the outside was circular, the inside – the space filled with water -- was a hexagonal with 1.2 meter sides. Its 40-cm deep inside was lined with hydraulic cement, and its bottom rested on a series of limestone flagstones which seem to plug a round cistern (1.18 meters in diameter) which belonged to an earlier condition of the house. Flanking the pool on either side, two dolia {(large, ceramic, roughly spherical tanks)} may have stored water or served as planters.

Plans

Fig. 1 Plan of House C, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

Fig. 2 Plan of House C, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

Fig. 3 Plan of House C, Les Villégiales, quarter of the Benedictines

Dates

A.D. 40-60 Built

Bibliography

J.L. Fiches, A. Veyrac, Nîmes, CAG, 30/1, 1996.
P.Gros, J. Guyon, Ph. Leveau, dir.,La maison urbaine d'époque romaine, Atlas des maisons de la Gaule narbonnaise, t. II, Doc. d'Archéol. Vaucl, 6, 1996, Nîmes, fiche n°6 P. 202-203.(worldcat)
M. Monteil, Nîmes antique et sa proche campagne, Monographie d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne, 3, 1999, P. 130-139.(worldcat)
Garmy, Pierre, and Martial Monteil. Le Quartier Antique Des Bénédictins À Nîmes (gard): Découvertes Anciennes Et Fouilles, 1966-1992. Paris: Editions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme, 2000, P. 74-76, P 83-88.(worldcat)

Places

House, rue Nationale

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Sublocation

House, rue Nationale

House

Baths of La Planchette

Keywords

House Description

This house is 240 meters northeast of the Maison Carrée at the angle of rue Nationale and rue la Ferrage on a 250-square-meter parcel. Salvage excavations were conducted in 1978-79. The known surface exceeds 140 square meters and one can estimate its total surface to have been between 400 and 600 square meters. It was probably turned towards the decumanus on the south, under the present rue Nationale. The location of the entrance from the outside is not known, but one entered the courtyard by a vestibule on its south side. Construction goes back to the Augustan period, near the year A.D. 1. The house, remodeled in the second half of the first century, was occupied two or three centuries; strata dated from the fourth century indicate abandonment by that time. The best known part is the courtyard with peristyle of 62 square meters and ornamented in its center by a rectangular pool. The galleries were paved in opus signinum sown with little crosses of black tessera.

Only about half of the rather deep pool has survived. The base of a fountain is found to the east of the pool. A gutter leads from this base towards the southeast corner of the peristyle.

Plans

Plan of House, rue Nationale

Dates

A.D. 1

Bibliography

J.L. Fiches, A. Veyrac, Nîmes, CAG, 30/1, 1996, P. 375-379
P.Gros, J. Guyon, Ph. Leveau, dir.,La maison urbaine d'époque romaine, Atlas des maisons de la Gaule narbonnaise, t. II, Doc. d'Archéol. Vaucl, 6, 1996, Nîmes, fiche n°2 P. 192-193.(worldcat)
M. Monteil, Nîmes antique et sa proche campagne, Monographie d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne, 3, 1999, P. 157-172.(worldcat)

Places

Various oscilla

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Keywords

oscilla

Element Description

These were discovered out of context or the location of the find is not known:

A circular oscillum of white marble, 22 cm in diameter, with a theatrical mask, flute, and, to the right, a tambourine under a tree. Discovered around 1770.
Fragment of a rectangular oscillum showing, on one side, the leg of an animal supported on a wheel and, on the other, a theatrical mask. (The maximum height of the fragment is 14.5 cm.)
A rectangular oscillum with masks (15 by 22 cm). On one side, Ganymede gives drink to the eagle Jupiter; on the other, two theatrical masks.

Bibliography

J.L. Fiches, A. Veyrac, Nîmes, CAG, 30/1, 1996, P. 350, P. 512.