François CholletVerified account

This is a story that begins in 1859... Wait, no. It begins during the fall of the Roman empire. But let's make a first stop in 1859. In 1859, this field had a name. It translates to "Blacklands". This name is long forgotten, and you won't find it on any 20th century map.

Across the Blacklands was a rather extensive mound of earth and rocks. The owner of the Blacklands decided to get rid of the mound in order to improve the yield of his lands. He started digging. Soon after, he began to uncover walls.

It was the ruins of a large building, 100m by 10m, divided into many rooms. 50m to the south were more buildings. He had found a vast Gallo-Roman villa. The ruins were full of debris: cement, tiles, broken pottery, bronze coins, and small polished stones used for floor mosaics.

As people systematically dismantled the ruins, they found bones in the main room of the main building. Human bones. Lots of them. By the time they were done, they had unearthed 80 human skeletons, men and women, adults and children.

They were the inhabitants of the villa, masters and servants, who had perished together in the destruction of the complex in the 3rd or 5th century AD. Numerous animal bones were also found in the auxiliary buildings.

Among those who witnessed this was S. N., a friend of the land owner. A cultivator, he was an intelligent man who, despite not having had any secondary education, happened to be fond of ancient history. It is thanks to his involvement that we have a written trace of what happened

In 1859, archeology was in its infancy, and the preservation of ancient sites was not a concern, especially in the remote countryside. But S. N. understood that the discovery was significant, and he kept notes of everything that had been found.

In 1862, a local historical society was founded in the nearest town, 15km away. S. N. was not sufficiently well-connected to join it at first, but he eventually did in 1868, and he published a short article relating the discovery in the quarterly journal of the society.