Revue Archéologique du Centre de la France (Sep 2021)
L’établissement rural du second âge du Fer (275 av. à 15/20 ap. J.-C.) des “ Allets ” (Épeigné-les-Bois, Indre-et-Loire) et du “ Marchais Rond ” (Saint-Georges-sur-Cher, Loir-et-Cher
Abstract
A large rural settlement dating to the Second Iron Age was uncovered on the route of the A85 highway in 2005, in the communes of Épeigné-les-Bois (Indre-et-Loire) and Saint-Georges-sur-Cher (Loir-et-Cher). Installed at the end of the Early Stone Age (around 275 B.C.), two phases of occupation have been identified that cover a continuous period from the La Tène C to the La Tène D1 (275 to 80 B.C.). After a chronological hiatus of nearly half a century, the site was reoccupied during the Augustan period (20/15 B.C.-15/20 A.D.), after which it was definitively abandoned.The establishment, covering at least 1.6 hectares, consists of two enclosures, in the shape of an "L", with the same orientation, open to the north and west, and made up of wide and deep ditches. These installations follow one another between La Tène C and La Tène D1. To the east and south, the settlement is surrounded by an outer enclosure abandoned at the latest in the Augustan period. Thirteen buildings are associated with these occupations. Among these is a large building on supporting posts and rejected walls with a surface area of more than 126 m2 (building E3). Another complex defines a domestic space of 100 m2 dated to La Tène D1. The scanty furnishings and the incomplete view of the site do not allow us to conclude definitively on the status of the settlement and the activities carried out there, even if they seem modest. Two objects nevertheless deserve to be mentioned because they may refer, in a restricted and familial context, to cultic practices: a folded sword scabbard and a tripod bucket vase. As for the palynological study, it provides remarkable results on the chronological succession of the enclosures based on the environmental markers identified at the different stages of their filling.
