Charles Platiau/Reuters
Archaeological work at a 2,000-year-old site in Sainte-Geneviève must stop in June when construction begins on a
university research building.
Posted on 04/30/2006 2:58:25 AM PDT by Pharmboy
Charles Platiau/Reuters
Archaeological work at a 2,000-year-old site in Sainte-Geneviève must stop in June when construction begins on a
university research building.
PARIS, April 29 — snip...
This week, they were reminded of a far earlier Paris, one that was still called Lutetia. On a Left Bank hillside, which carries the name of Sainte-Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, French archaeologists have found remnants of a road and several houses dating back some 2,000 years to when Rome ruled Gaul.
The New York Times
On the Left Bank, scholars are
studying a Roman road and ruins.
snip...
The significance of such finds, of course, is what they reveal about earlier times. It is known that early settlers around the Île de la Cité burned their houses before they were conquered by a Roman legion under Labienus in 52 B.C. But in the decades that followed, a new town was built on the Left Bank, which eventually had a population of 12,000 to 20,000.
Then, after the first barbarian incursions in A.D. 253, the population apparently withdrew from the hill of Sainte-Geneviève and sought refuge behind new walls on the Île de la Cité, which was called Paris, borrowing the name of the ancient Gallic Parisii tribe.
snip...
"It was a neighborhood of the Augustan period," explained Didier Busson, the architect in charge of the dig. "It may have been founded by Gauls who had been in the Roman army and settled here, bringing with them their experience of building."
snip...
"Thirty years ago, this site would have been destroyed even before we had a chance to excavate it," he said. "Maybe in 20 years it will be possible to preserve things as we find them."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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With information like this, I would think a university most of all would allow more leeway than a few months, especially for a 2000 year old site that may literally uncover technology of the time
Not just a little bit of irony there.
Can't stand in the way of research can we?
Excellent catch.
Irony, indeed! Try avaricious mendacity.
This is fascinating stuff!
Thanks!
Hey--they're French!
Oh, right.
French.
But, it looks like a great dig that could reveal massive amounts of data.
Yep..and don't those Euros always tell US that WE don't have a sense of history!
It's always about them, isn't it?
It was nice of you to try dressing it up.
[rimshot!]
Who will do the construction in June? Surely not French workers!!! Working in June is just too cruel!
:')
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