The archaeological operation on Rue des Communes, carried out from February to August 2023 by a team from Archeodunum led by Mr. Rodriguez, made it possible to study a district of the ancient settlement of Augustum. This settlement was probably occupied between the late 1st century BC and the 3rd/4th century AD.

Despite the degraded state of preservation, the high density of the discovered remains, as well as the significance of the collected movable corpus, indicated a high scientific potential from the field phase, which the current progress of studies continues to highlight.

Augustum is one of the main vici of the city of Vienne (France), whose creation would date back to the years 16-13 BC. Its role as a crossroads is attested by the Tabula Peutingeriana and the Itinerarium Antonini.

The ancient settlement indeed enjoys a privileged geographical position, at the intersection of important routes that go from Vienne to Italy and the Helvetic plateau. Moreover, it benefits from the important Rhone River, a major waterway. These conditions have greatly favored the development of its craft and commercial functions. These latter are probably also the cause of the very abundant amphorae discovered almost systematically during every excavation conducted in Aoste.

Couple of vases buried, another of the burials without explanation. The container lying on the flank is a Lyon 3B amphora, while the one that rises vertically is a dolium.
Couple of vases buried, another of the burials without explanation. The container lying on the flank is a Lyon 3B amphora, while the one that rises vertically is a dolium. Credit: Miguel Rodríguez

The reuse of this type of container, inexpensive and abundantly available once its contents have been used, is a phenomenon known in the Roman world, especially in Gaul and Germania. This is evidenced by certain large urban centers such as Vienne/Saint-Romain-en-Gal. In Aoste, numerous examples of reuse have been observed, particularly at the diversion of the departmental road 592, or on the Steida road, to mention the most recent ones.

In these examples, the most frequently observed uses seem to be building sanitation and the recovery of water reserves, possibly for craft application. In the first case, the amphorae are buried vertically, with the base on the ground or inverted with the neck down. They can be whole or truncated at the neck or shoulder level.

In the second situation, the amphorae are generally cut at the neck and buried up to half of the body. There is also another case whose vestiges are quite similar, but where the vessel is placed in an outdoor circulation area (like a sidewalk), and where the use could be for the recovery of urine for fullers.

These latter two cases are likely to provide a plausible interpretative framework for a large portion of the buried amphorae observed at the Rue des Communes site. In general, the potential uses of such reuses are multiple, and their identification is problematic.

Detailed view of the amphora socket
Detailed view of the amphora socket. Credit: Miguel Rodríguez

Two types of amphorae and storage vessel reuse remain unidentified to this day. The first has been observed at least on four occasions within the pedestrian circulation spaces bordering the east-west axis road. The dating of these levels is between the first half of the 1st century and the mid-2nd century.

It consists of a pair of amphorae or an amphora and a storage vessel placed next to each other on a sediment bed inside a pit with an oblong or oval plan, about 100 to 150 centimeters long and about 100 centimeters deep.

One of the containers is placed sideways, while the second is set vertically in the ground, with the neck facing downward. In the best-preserved structure, the bottom of the vertically installed vessel is perforated, perhaps intentionally.

The second type of undetermined reuse has only been observed once. It involves a pit with an oblong plan, 220 centimeters long and 95 centimeters deep, located on the western sidewalk of a north-south axis road. Its fill includes an entire amphora, installed at the southern end of the structure, with the neck facing downward and probably intentionally wedged with several decimeter-sized fragments. Once installed, the base of the amphora protrudes significantly from the cavity.

Detailed view of the lower fill of the F461 structure. It is formed by a low-dense sedimentary matrix associated with many pebbles and fragments of TCA
Detailed view of the lower fill of the F461 structure. It is formed by a low-dense sedimentary matrix associated with many pebbles and fragments of TCA. Credit: Miguel Rodríguez

Up to half the height of the cavity, the fill of the pit consists of a silty matrix associated with a dense network of pebbles and ceramic fragments. The upper fill also possesses a silty matrix but is largely devoid of movable items.

At the northern end of the pit, the presence of a negative whose diameter approximately matches that of the amphora installed in front might suggest the existence of a second recovered storage vessel. The abundant ceramic assemblage suggests a date between the second half of the 1st century AD and the mid-2nd century, while the amphora itself evokes a slightly broader chronology, at the end of the 2nd century.

According to the researchers, no satisfactory explanation currently allows for the interpretation of this type of vestige, whose identification is set to become one of the goals of the investigations undertaken after the excavation.

SOURCES

Miguel Rodriguez, Les multiples vies des amphores du site de la rue des Communes (Aoste, Isère). Le Fil d’ArAr. doi.org/10.58079/122rh

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