Sens/Agedincum, cité des Sénons

Abstract

The increase in investigations in advance of development and the reconsideration of earlier data allow us to reassess the origin of the capital of the Senones. Roman Agedincum was preceded by an open settlement dating back to the 2nd c., even to the 3rd c. BC, situated at the confluence of the rivers Yonne and the Vanne and mentioned by Caesar. Probably before 3 BC, a new urban layout was established one kilometer to the north-east, taking advantage of the opening of the so-called “Road to the Ocean” mentioned by Strabo. Its regular grid pattern, determined by the alignment of this road, covered around 110 ha. However, evidence for of the city’s first decades is scarce, even if we postulate that some of the monuments attested at a later period (forum, baths, extra-urban sanctuary of the Motte du Ciar) already existed. The scarcity of epigraphic and archaeological documents in situ does not permit us an informed study of the population structure and the nature of the activities that took place here. Nonetheless, its initial development seems quite slow, since it was not until the 2nd c. or even the 3rd c. that Agedincum attained its full extent.