France: archaeologists uncover 'little Pompeii' south of Lyon

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/02/france-archaeologists-uncover-little-pompeii-south-of-lyon

France: archaeologists uncover 'little Pompeii' south of Lyon

Site unearthed on land awaiting construction of housing complex is labelled an ‘exceptional find’ by culture ministry

Agence France-Presse

Tuesday 1 August 2017 22.11 EDT


A “little Pompeii” is how French archaeologists are describing an entire ancient Roman neighbourhood uncovered on the outskirts of the southeastern city of Vienne, featuring remarkably preserved remains of luxury homes and public buildings. “We’re unbelievably lucky. This is undoubtedly the most exceptional excavation of a Roman site in 40 or 50 years,” said Benjamin Clement, the archaeologist leading the dig on the banks of the Rhone river, about 18 miles (30km) south of Lyon.

The city of Vienne – famous for its Roman theatre and temple – was an important hub on the route connecting northern Gaul with the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis in southern France. The site unearthed on land awaiting construction of a housing complex covers an area of nearly 7,000 square metres (75,000 sq ft) – an unusually large discovery in an urban area that has been labelled an “exceptional find” by the French culture ministry.

The neighbourhood, which contains homes dating to the 1st century AD, is believed to have been inhabited for around 300 years before being abandoned after a series of fires. Many of the objects in place when the inhabitants fled were conserved, transforming the area into a “real little Pompeii in Vienne”, according to Clement, referring to the Roman city-state that was largely preserved after being buried by volcanic ash.

Among the structures to have partly survived are an imposing home dubbed the Bacchanalian House after a tiled floor depicting a procession of maenads (female followers of the god of wine, known as Dionysus or Bacchus) and joyful half-man, half-goat creatures known as satyrs.
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The mosaics are being removed with infinite care and taken away to be restored, with a view to being exhibited in Vienne’s museum of Gallo-Roman civilisation in 2019.
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[BigmanPigman]

1. So many hidden treasures...

A different post showed and entire underground city discovered in Turkey when a citizen was expanding his home. In Rome a home was beautifully preserved by ash (even the dog was preserved) from 300 AD. They discovered it while building a subway.

[Hortensis]

2. How exciting. Imagine the people carefully brushing the dirt

away to uncover the designs on that particular floor, speculating about the life lived on it 2000 years ago.

And cut short: first century sarcophagus of a young girl

[Nitram]

3. It's too bad they couldn't be left in place.

[Judi Lynn]

4. More images from this area, and current work at the dig:

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrB8pmMooJZMDsAP_6LuLkF;_ylc=X1MDOTYwNTc0ODMEX3IDMgRiY2sDZWFlcjdmOWNnbDI5ZyUyNmIlM0Q0JTI2ZCUzRGZFVE9PSzFyWUgzS3VfNWJGaWk4THF3a19jX3JYc19ya1E2azM1dGQ0N2NwM1EtLSUyNnMlM0RkayUyNmklM0RaV1F1N2h4a2ZMZEx3YVhqNGZSSARmcgMEZ3ByaWQDTENqbGdaTkVRLjZzT0xEN2NSMEdKQQRtdGVzdGlkA251bGwEbl9zdWdnAzAEb3JpZ2luA2ltYWdlcy5zZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMwBHBxc3RyAwRwcXN0cmwDBHFzdHJsAzIyBHF1ZXJ5A1ZpZW5uZSBmcmFuY2UgIHBvbXBlaWkEdF9zdG1wAzE1MDE3MzM1MTgEdnRlc3RpZANudWxs?gprid=LCjlgZNEQ.6sOLD7cR0GJA&pvid=DRpP9zY5LjHlO2d6WQqJMAXSMjYwMgAAAACUz4so&fr2=sb-top-images.search.yahoo.com&p=Vienne+france++pompeii&ei=UTF-8&iscqry=&fr=sfp

So glad to learn about this from your post. Had never known until seeing the article. What a great destination for a trip!

Thank you.