The archeological site at the Puy de Corent is situated about fifteen kilometers southwest of the city of Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne. Today unhabited, there remain numerous vestiges dated from the Neolithic period (3rd millennium BCE) all the way to the end of the Roman Empire (4th century CE).

In the first century BCE there was a siege upon the large Gaul settlement: a vast Oppidum consisting of several dozen hectares, of which the importance is made visible by the thousands of coins and amphorae used to import Italian wine.

The excavation, begun in 2001, concentrates upon the center of assembly, occupied by a vast sanctuary surrounded by dwelling quarters. The extent of the remains and the amplitude of recovered objects identify Corent as the political and economic main city of the Arverne people before Roman conquest.

A City Sanctuary

The first excavations of Corent (1992-1993) gave evidence of a large, Roman-era sanctuary. The sanctuary was organized into a core of large quarters, surrounding a massive gallery upwards of sixty meters across. Its plan coincides exactly with the stone walls which surround the site.

The excavations undertaken from 2001-2005 have shown that this sanctuary was built on the foundations of a Gaul settlement from the end of their era, around 130 BCE. Its walls were originally built with wooden palisades anchored in a deep trench around the base. These first boundaries of the sacred space were replaced in the first century BCE by a gallery on wooden posts connecting the four quarters of the core: this enclosure measured more than 50 meters across and as high as eight meters!

These were to be replaced around the beginning of the Roman era by stone walls, built on top of the remains of the old fortifications. At the time of its construction the plan and elevation of the sanctuary were drawn on an engraving stone for the architects and laborers. The last version of the Roman sanctuary contained a mason-built gallery surrounding a large stone temple, which would be common up until the fourth century CE.

The Feasts of the King Luern

Two rectangular buildings were discovered at the center of the sanctuary. Fixed with ditches with wooden beams for support, these buildings were decorated with sheep skulls and jaws strung together like garland. The surrounding areas were littered with thousands of bones, as well as clay wine carriers imported from the Italian peninsula, and metal culinary utensils (cauldrons, knives, forks, colanders, pails, ladles, spoons). These remains correspond with the tons of meat and the hundreds of gallons of wine consumed within the banquets mentioned in the ancient texts of the Arverne king Luern:

“Luern, to gain the favor of the masses, travelled by wagon throughout the countryside, and threw gold and money at the myriad of Celts who followed him. He enclosed a space of twelve square meters, which he filled with vats of fine drinks, and prepared vast quantities of victuals which, for several days, he allowed those who wished to enter, to taste whatever he may want, to no end.” Source: Posidonius of Apameia (Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae IV 37, 1-19

This festive manifestation of politics was still present around the time of Vercingetorix: In one of his lectures to the masses, the Roman historian Florus spoke of such “festivals held in the sanctuaries.” These festivities presided over by the Arverne leadership took place at the sanctuary at Corent for over a hundred years.

The center of the sanctuary was occupied by masses of circular and square clay pottery: paunches and thighs, laid out in small wood-covered caves, were probably destined to be sacrifices to the gods (some of the remains were human). These recall the “vats filled with wine” of Luern’s festivals.
Varied Offerings.

The enclosing ditch delivered other offerings characteristic of the sanctuaries of this period: human skulls, horse and cow bones, sword fragments, spears and shields, beads of glass, bone and bronze, and horse and boar figurines, all of which illustrate the central role of the sanctuary in the religious, political and economic realms of the Arverne at the end of the Iron Age.

Hundreds of coins were also found in the sanctuary. Traces of a monetary workshop were also discovered in the proximity of the entrance: monetary coins, scrap metal, balances and other precision instruments, as well as small tools were also found. The ability to mint coins, reserved to the great capitols, also recalls the allegory of Luern, who distributed pieces of money from his chariot.

A coin made on-site was enamored with a fox perched upon a chariot. This representative animal was displayed at the entrance of the sanctuary, in the form of exposed skulls with other carnivores such as wolves, wildcats and dogs. The fox, from the Celtic word louernos from which the Gaulic chief took his name, probably symbolized the control exercised by his dynasty from the principal sanctuary of the city.

From Sanctuary to Oppidum

In 2005 a new program of research was laid out based on years of exploring the quarters of the oppidum surrounding the sanctuary. Excavations have stretched out over the parcels of land situated around the old grounds, beyond the northern perimeter. They have revealed a vast town-center consisting of large residences, along with commercial space for a butcher and other artisans. Practically intact, the marks and objects left behind allow a peek into the daily lives of the Arverne families and their Roman guests…

To start off the excavation, 3000 square meters of overlying agricultural land were scraped by backhoe. About a foot under the surface, vast quantities of earthen, wooden and stone construction were found, characteristic of the Gaul era. Careful and systematic manual excavation allowed for the unearthing of more buildings, organized in a coherent and orderly network.

The superposition of certain buildings and varied construction techniques allow for the distinguishing of at least two separate phases of occupation.

A Vast Settlement

Due to their fragility, ancient buildings are almost always completely destroyed by plows on the fields up above. Often all that remain are the foundations: the stacking of large basalt blocks demarcate ground and wall patterns; the spaces that remain are riddled with trenches and holes, corresponding with the implementation of wooden posts and partitioning. In other sectors, great Italian wine jugs are strewn about passageways: courtyards, roads and paths…

At the center of the site, a dense network of trenches and holes create a 300 meter2 landscape. These areas of perishable materials (wood and earth covered with thatch) have disappeared. The principal building is surrounded by an enclosed courtyard with several other buildings: a granary, lean-tos, cellars and workshops used in the artisanal and agricultural context.

There are a number of indications that allow for the identification of these buildings as domiciles, equipped with kitchens and large storerooms used for storing provisions. Millstones for grinding grain, storage vessels, and tools and scraps for metallurgic and textile work portray expansive artisanal and domestic activity. Abundant with wildlife, the main meat source was beef, while cows were all but absent from the adjoining sanctuary. The numerous skulls and hooves show artisanal butchery on a large scale.

The first wood-and-earthen settlements are dated between the years 120 – 70 BCE (La Tène phase D1)

New Constructions

More solid and better isolated from the humidity of the ground thanks to their stone foundations, the second phase of construction at Corent was more apt to be repaired and extended. On the perimeter of the site there figure to be more large stone buildings, aligned to the east along a 50 meter-long road. The road was formed using matted pebbles and stones, its borders seemingly well-planned: gutters, sidewalks, porticos and shops. The roadway and its surroundings were found to have been littered with money and bronze coins, clay jetons, ceramic and bronze ingots, testifying to the artisanal and commercial activity of the city.

The buildings that border the road are distinguishable by their sturdy construction. Their foundations were formed on dry stones and recovered with a level of batted earth. Their walls, wooden beams built into a stone base, were built up to two stories high. The numerous tile and terra-cotta fragments on their surfaces are perhaps the first clay-covered houses in Gaul. The central courtyard, accessible by a sheltered porch, was seen throughout Gaul in those places touched by Roman influence.

This second stage of earthen, wooden and stone construction is dated between the years 80 BCE to 20 BCE (La Tène phase D2).

Precious Finds

The buildings of the second stage were adorned with numerous objects, of which some were directly imported from Italy: gold, Romanesque fibulae (distinct objects brooches worn by superior officers of the Legion at the end of the Republic), boxes of seals (used for official correspondence within the military in the Caesarian period), scalpels (used by the Roman military), jewelry, Roman money, oil lamps, military shoe nails (caligae), projectiles and fragments of Roman weaponry used against the Gauls.

The metal objects found in and around these buildings prove that their occupants were of a higher social class: objects crafted of precious metals and stones, pieces of coins and money, and an abundance of imported plates and wine-toting amphorae show the presence of a specific haute class that was present during the Roman-Arverne wars.

Putting these objects into historical context allows for a dating of 70-40 BCE. Rarely seen in the Gaul of this time period, these findings attest to the level of ‘Romanization’ that went on in the Corent oppidum. It could be said that both the Roman soldiers and merchants as well as the Arverne upper class benefited from Rome’s involvement in Gaul.

Corent, Main City of the Arverni

At the current phase of research, we can confirm that the site at Corent was a vast urban center, complete with maintained roads, comparable to the town centers also seen in Villeneuve-Saint-Germain, Besançon, Manching in Bavaria and Hrazany in the Czech Republic.

The center was inhabited without interruption between the end of the second century BCE and the reign of Augustus and the beginning of the Roman Empire. Occupation of the site by the Romans seems to have taken place between the years 100 and 50 BCE, in the years preceding the battle of Gergovia, in 52 BCE. The number, richness and variety in the type of objects found confirm the site at Corent as an important political, religious and social center, an oppidum, for the Arverne people before the Roman-Gaul wars.

The importance of the town and the small distance separating it from its neighbor Gergovia, barely 6 kilometers, poses a historical problem. The plateau of Gergovia (community of La Roche Blanche) is the incontestable site of Julius Caesar’s siege in 52 BCE, made evident by numerous arms and military fortifications dating from the period. However it doesn’t appear to have been a siege of a major, important Arverne city: in effect, it left few discernible indications of the Gaul period and the essential items that were found date from the beginning of the Roman Empire, between 30 BCE and around the turn of the century. The site of Gondole (in Le Cendre) on the other hand, situated just 7 kilometers from Gergovia and Corent, seems to have been occupied during the years 70-30 BCE.

The possibility of coexistence between these three sites in the middle of the first century BCE, which is being better substantiated with each excavation, relieves a number of questions: towns spread out a bit from each other, or “communities” constituting one sole city, a vast megalopolis of over two thousand hectares? Perhaps the secrets of Gergovia have not all yet all been unearthed…

For more details, consult our choice of online articles, the excavation reports in PDF format and the ARAFA websites for Gergovia and Gondole.

English Translation : Max Blanton (NYC, USA)