Bibracte, a 2000-year-old town under a forest

Bibracte is an archaeological site in the French region, Burgundy. Located on Mont Beuvray, it was the capital of the Aedui, a Gallic tribe that lived during the late Iron Age and the beginning of Roman period.

A few decades after the Roman conquest of Gaul during the Gallic Wars, Bibracte was abandoned by its inhabitants, who moved to Autun, the new capital of the region built by the Roman administration 20km away from the Bibracte site.

Bibracte remained undisturbed and unexamined, lying under vast woodland.

It was discovered by archaeologists in the 19th century, then abandoned again after 1914, before being revived in 1984 with the resumption of large-scale archaeological excavations. Since then, a museum and research centre have been constructed at Bibracte, where the archaeology of tomorrow is being developed!

A woodland treasure chest

At 821 metres, Mont Beuvray is the third-highest peak in the Morvan, a small mountain range in Burgundy.

The meadows at the summit of Mont Beuvray were used to graze cattle until the 19th century. The boundaries of the pastoral and agricultural space can still be seen in the rows of queules, twisted trees that are the remains of ancient folded hedges. The view from the summit makes it a top-rated destination for hikers.

Except for a few clearings, the mountain is now completely covered in woodland. Its majestic beech forest is a major contribution to the heritage value of the site.

Because of the importance of its archaeological remains and the quality of its landscape, Mont Beuvray is protected as both a cultural heritage site (a historic monument) and a natural heritage site (a listed site). In 2008, it was awarded the 'Grand Site de France' label, which recognises the quality of the site's sustainable management.

The rediscovered city

When Emperor Napoleon III wanted to write a history of Julius Caesar, research was undertaken to locate Alesia, Gergovia and Bibracte, Gallic strongholds that had played a major role in the Gallic Wars. Bibracte is mentioned in Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico, his treatise on the Gallic Wars, as the main town of the Aedui, a Celtic people of great importance.

However, its precise location had been lost over time and, from the Renaissance onwards, scholars began to wonder whether it was Mont Beuvray or Autun. Both locations can be found right above the word 'AEDUI' on the map below.

Long-term archaeological explorations by local scholar Jacques-Gabriel Bulliot began in 1865 and lasted more than three decades. These quickly demonstrated that Bibracte and Mont Beuvray were one and the same.

Bulliot's successor, Joseph Déchelette, one of the fathers of European protohistoric archaeology, took over at the turn of the 20th century.

Observing that the remains of the structures found on Mont Beuvray had been the blueprint for identical structures found in Bavaria, Hungary and Bohemia, he realised that Bibracte was the point of emergence of a Europe-wide urban phenomenon.

However, the excavations stopped after the death of Joseph Déchelette in 1914 and Bibracte gradually fell into oblivion. It was not until 1984 that a vast research programme in collaboration with researchers from all over Europe was re-launched at the instigation of the President of France, François Mitterrand.

Excavations carried out since the 19th century have fully revealed the importance of Bibracte as not just a settlement but an oppidum, a large fortified town.

As an oppidum, its urban framework was initially formed by two ramparts. The first dates from the second half of the 2nd century BC. It was 7 kilometres long and was quickly replaced by a second, which was 5.2 kilometres long. Their gates are linked to a road system organised around a main artery and secondary streets that distribute public spaces, workshops and numerous houses.

The building techniques, plans and decorations reveal the influence of the Roman empire in the area. This began just after the Gallic War, particularly in the form of a group of monuments which have been interpreted by scholars as being a forum and domus built on a plan that was typical of Roman Italy.

Objects and people

As well as uncovering the urban remains, hundreds of thousands of objects have been discovered on the site since the 19th century.

Those from the earliest excavations are now divided between the Rolin Museum in Autun and the National Archaeology Museum in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, while more recent finds are kept in the European Archaeological Centre's archives.

Nearly 2,000 objects are on display at the Bibracte museum. Studied and restored by various specialists, they provide irreplaceable evidence of life in the oppidum.

The many objects from everyday life illustrate, among other things, how food was prepared, such as by hand-operated rotary millstones, which were owned by every household.

The care Bibracte's inhabitants took with their appearance is evident in the variety of objects they used to adorn themselves.

There are a large number of fibulae (brooches for fastening garments), reflecting the specific skills of the oppidum's craftsmen. While wine amphorae (two-handled storage jars) were the main items that were imported to Bibracte, rarer items such as amber and pigments point to more complex and extensive trade routes.

Finally, several objects, such as writing tools, weapons and luxury items, reveal the presence of an elite. Others, such as a sculpted head, religious dedications and ex-votos are evidence of religious practices that were also in the process of being Romanised.

Bibracte today

The European Archaeological Centre, which is adjacent to the site, welcomes researchers and students who have come to take part in the exploration of Mont Beuvray or to take advantage of its extensive library.

Over the years, it has become a centre for experimenting with new techniques in archaeology, particularly in the field of digital technology. The Bibracte museum, welcoming 50,000 visitors a year, is an unrivalled place to discover a little-known chapter in European history and learn about diverse archaeological methods.

The EUreka3D project enables the most representative objects discovered at Bibracte to be digitised in three dimensions so that they can be shared on Europeana.

This blog is part of the EUreka3D project, which aims to build the capacity of small cultural heritage institutions in digital transformation, particularly on issues related to 3D digitisation.