Open Archaeology (Nov 2017)
From Excavation to Restitution of the Networks of Roman and Pre-roman Roads: The Footprints of the 2222 m and 2535 m Leagues in the Carnute, Senon and Parisii Territories (Gallia Lugdunensis/France)
Abstract
The excavation of a section of the Old path from Orleans to Paris at Massy has shown a real archaeogeographical textbook case outlining the different phases of the transformation of a gallic sunken road in a gallo-roman road, whose route was used until the Modern period. Outside this focus, the whole of the ancient road has been restituted by observing on the maps the traces left by the use of the Gallo- Roman (2222 m) and the Gallic (2535 m) leagues during the survey campaigns. The cartographic analysis was extended to routes between the cities of Paris, Chartres, and Orleans (fig. 1), and it shows the use of an identical gallic league in Carnute, Senon and Parisii territories and the use of common zero points established on the urban limits for the calculation of the distances. Beyond the restitution of the road networks, this study has revealed that many menhirs, supposedly Neolithic, were in fact standing on points established with the gallo-roman league metric and sometimes directly erected on the limits (Fines) of ancient cities. This data allows one to reconsider the dating of the erection of these megaliths, thereby advancing the idea of a terminus post quem from the ancient period.
Keywords
