Archaeologists Thought They Found an Ancient Roman Home. They Only Scratched the Surface.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

A Gallo-Roman residence first found in 1966 was recently re-examined, and archeologists found that earlier excavations had only partially uncovered what was hidden.
The 43,000-square-foot residence in central France included radiant flooring and enclosed baths, and was built sometime between the first and fourth centuries A.D.
The Gallo-Roman home was obviously for a wealthy family—possibly aristocrats.

Archaeologists only scratched the surface—quite literally—in 1966 when they examined what is now known to be one of the grandest Roman-era villas ever discovered in central France.

When crews began the process of creating a gravel pit on the bank of the Yonne River back in the 1960s, they uncovered a 10-room, 7,500-square-foot residence—and stopped digging.

Now, new archaeological work shows that the impressive find from nearly 60 years ago wasn’t the crown jewel of the site, but simply the “secondary wing” of a striking 43,000-square-foot home complete with gardens, thermal baths, radiant heating, mosaics, and all the other things a wealthy aristocrat from the first through fourth century A.D. could ask for.

According to an announcement from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research from the Sainte-Nitasse archaeological site, the four-acre property along the river shows off Gallo-Roman culture in Roman Gaul. “We are not talking about a simple country residence,” the team wrote in a translated statement, “but the core of a vast agricultural estate managed by a family belonging to the political or economic elite of the region.”

The large villa in Roman Gaul is impressive not only for the transparent size of the structure, but for what it says about the development of residential buildings of the time. These sites often feature sophisticated architecture with materials such as marble, mosaics, and frescoes. Many also include pools, fountains, and gardens that create courtyards and private sanctuaries. This villa has all of that, and few villas have it all in the same scale.

“It is rare to find a pars urbana [residential area] so developed and excavated so extensively,” the team wrote.

The building has a perimeter wall around it, expansive gardens on each side, a pool to the north, and a fountain to the south. The home features gallery rooms, reception spaces, work areas, a kitchen, traces of mosaics, and even thermal baths attached to the dwelling that fill the eastern wing.

Initial findings suggest two stages of construction, although the team hasn’t ruled out a third possible phase, which could coincide with the growth of the ancient of Auxerre (near which this villa was built). The city began as a secondary rural settlement at the beginning of the first century, and grew into a capital city by the fourth century.

The researchers plan to analyze the recovered artifacts to hopefully reconstruct the daily life of the residents of the Gallo-Roman villa. “While the size of the buildings outlines the very comfortable lifestyle of the occupants,” the team wrote, “the remains of their daily lives still need to be studied to better characterize them.”

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