Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1983 - 16

meaning to their surroundings and then relate to
them on these terms, is a landscape. The physical
remains of a landscape are collectively termed
a landscape signature.
To reconstruct a fourteenth-century Burgundian
landscape, for example, we must determine what
fourteenth-century Burgundians would have seen.
Where were important commercial ports? Where
were the university towns, the chateaux of great
families, the graveyards of farm folk? Did people
believe in the curative powers of springs or that
one's land was fair price for a seigneur's protection?
Folk tales, tax records, archaeological excavations,
maps, paintings, and the reconstruction of past
biota, climate and terrain are some sources of information on physical and phenomenal surroundings.

A familiar Celtic alteration of the landscape was
the construction of high, easily defensible fortresses.
The first evidence of occupation of the hilltop site
of Mont Dardon is from the Early Iron Age, also
known as the Hallstatt period, which lasted in Burgundy from roughly 800 to 600 b.c. TVaces of the
even earlier presence of agriculturalists were offered by surface finds of Neolithic implements. At
least three distinct periods of Iron Age domestic
occupation have been documented: Hallstatt/
La Tene (700-500 b.c.), La Tene I (600-200 b.c.), and
La Tène II/III (200 b.c. -Roman Conquest). Toward the end of the last period the hilltop was fortified by an earthen bank and ditch and an imposing
glacis overlooking its gentle southwesterly slope.
Inside the rampart the granite spine of the mountain
outcrops, forming a natural citadel with a breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside and the
dark mass of Mont Beuvray 25 kilometers to the
north.
Although there is evidence that this citadel was
in use during the Iron Age, its function cannot
be determined by the archaeological evidence alone.
The subsequent Gallo-Roman use of the citadel
area as a place sacred to the Celtic goddess Epona,
however, argues strongly that the Mont Dardon
citadel was a holy place in pre-Conquest Gaul as well.
Epona is the patroness of horses and horsemen,
and as such she, unlike many other Celtic deities,
found a place in the Roman pantheon. Obviously,
Caesar's army showed respect for both the practical
expertise of the Aeduan cavalry and their goddess.
Although evidence for the worship of Epona is found
throughout Gaul, she is considered the special
deity of the Aedui, whose lush countryside is well
suited to the raising of horses and (as today)
Charollais beef cattle.
High places have long figured in the human
imagination, and the desire to ascend to the heavens
by climbing a mountain or a pyramid or a tower
has great antiquity. The holy ascent to approach
a celestial deity in a high place also holds a prominent
place in the rituals of countless religions of the
world. In many cultures in fact the earliest evidence
of community architecture is the elevated temple.
Celtic deities might be found in sacred groves of oaks,
at the springs that mark the sources of mighty
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ARCHAEOLOGY

rivers, and on rocky promontories. Their intimate
relationship with the topography reflects the profoundly animistic nature of Celtic religion. Locating
such places through archaeological reconnaissance
is difficult, because the Celts considered the place
itself sacrosanct, and saw little need for any but the
most ephemeral structures. In keeping with the
Celtic belief in the transitory quality of life and durability of the soul, the ritual, over which the Druids
presided, needed little architectural embellishment.
The second to early fourth-century use of the
summit of Mont Dardon reflects the depth of GalloRoman acculturation. Statuettes of the Celtic
goddess Epona and two Roman deities (Venus and
perhaps Mercury) have been found on the site; that
they were commercially manufactured at Gueugnon
(Vieux Fresne) in the valley below shows the influence, even in the countryside, of the durable
Roman state. Their appearance in association is also
significant because they reflect the dual importance of the region: its abundant natural resources
(good grassland, deposits of tin, iron and coal, and
outcrops of high-grade pottery clay) and its position at the commercial crossroads of western Europe,
between the Rhône-Saône corridor and the Loire
River Valley. Mercury, god of commerce, maternal
Venus, and Epona, the grassland horse goddess,
are the essence of Gallo-Roman southern Burgundy.
In the valley below Dardon, the old pagan ways
modern Autun
were under attack. Augustodunum-on the Arroux, shortly after the Conquest, had
become home for the perhaps 40,000 people living
in the hillfort of Bibracte. Caesar Augustus had
ordered highland Celtic populations to abandon their
mountain strongholds and take up residence in
the valleys, where they would be more easily under
the control of the Roman army. Now another emperor
sought to change not simply the Celtic pattern
of settlement but Celtic beliefs as well: under Constantine, the first emperor to convert to Christianity,
Autun became one of the earliest bishoprics.
As the Roman economy began to utilize the
potential of this rich region, there were other
changes in the valley. Large villas appeared along
the banks of the Arroux south of Autun and nestled
in verdant, protected upland meadows. Although
Mont Dardon has yielded some evidence of domestic
use in very late antiquity and the early Merovingian
period (ca. A.D. 400-700), the hilltop itself apparently waned in the religious life of the region. New
Christian chapels were dedicated elsewhere, first
along the Roman roads in the valley, then throughout the area as the old villa system slowly gave
way to that of the manor. By the eighth century, the
population of the valley had grown and both freeholdings and manors appeared in the highlands.
Fragments of sarcophagi indicate that Mont Dardon
had once again become a focus of religious activity with the establishment of a small cemetery. During the first half of the ninth century, a rectangular
building (five meters by 11 meters) made of local
granite was constructed on the citadel. The structure
was shortly destroyed by fire.
In the second half of the ninth century or during
the tenth century, a Christian chapel of some size
(23 meters by seven meters) was erected along the

Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1983

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1983