In the heart of the French region of Burgundy, deep in a forest, lies a hidden city that had been dormant for 2,000 years. It’s called Bibracte, the most important oppidum in all of Gaul. That is where the Aedui, a Gallic tribe allied to the Romans, once built a fortified city on top of a mountain.
What did this 10,000-inhabitant ancient city look like? How did the builders manage to erect indestructible fortifications at a time when no other Gallic city featured such protection? How did archeologists decipher old pieces of wood despite the wear and tear of Father Time? And why did the Aedui suddenly abandon their capital?
Thanks to topographic maps using LIDAR technology as well as spectacular computer-generated imagery, you’re about to discover the evidence of galloping Romanization, notably through a sophisticated hydraulic system, a forum, and a basilica.
To this day, Bibracte remains a colossal excavation site, the remains of which continue to reveal long-lost secrets. As true investigators, archeologists unveil the craftiness and the genius of this ancient tribe at a turning point in the Roman Gallic era.
Up Next in Digging up History
-
Secrets of the Churchill War Rooms
Winston Churchill, wartime Prime Minister of Great Britain and its empire during the Second World War, is one of the most recognisable figures of world history. The man dominated Whitehall and Westminster, but many of his most vital decisions during the war years were taken away from the public e...
-
American Revolution - Commemorating t...
History Hit has been up close to a remarkable story from the American War of Independence, exploring the history and attending the commemorations for the dead of the bloody battle of Camden, 1780.
Travelling to South Carolina for this special film, Dan Snow investigates some exceptional histo...
-
The Rollright Stones: Mind, Myre and ...
The Rollright Stones are some of Britain’s most remarkable and mysterious ancient monuments. They consist of three separate sites - a looming funerary monument built to contain dismembered corpses, a venerated stone circle, and a single monolith with an innominate purpose. Alice Loxton traces six...
4 Comments