The last conference dealt with the end of Helvetian independence and the gradual transition of their territory into the orbit of Rome. The political and administrative break-up of the Helvetians in no way masks cultural continuity, manifested in particular through religious practices. We'll just mention here the exemplary case of Aventicum-Avenches, the future capital of Roman Helvetia; Latin evidence has multiplied over the last two decades, particularly in a vast area where numerous temples were erected: cremations from the second half of the 11th century BC, crouched burials under the eastern entrance of a future round temple, Caesarian remains probably related to banqueting practices - in short, all evidence that, from the end of the La Tène period, this area continued to have a sacred vocation, to the east of which the Gallo-Roman town was to develop. The Bois de Châtel oppidum, overlooking the Avenches plain, yielded a coin bearing the name of Vatico, linked by the corners to an ancient find; no doubt we're dealing with a Helvetian aristocrat (tigurin?), like the famous Divico known to history.
On the military front, prospecting in 2007/2008 at the Col des Étroits, the Jura crossing between Pontarlier and Yverdon-les-Bains, unearthed caligae nails from legionaries (Roman and/or auxiliary), a number of weapons and various other objects dating from between the defeat of the Gauls at Alesia and the beginning of the Augustan era, i.e. in the third quarter of the 1st century BC. To the east of Switzerland, at the foot of the Alps and along the Rhine, the dating and significance of towers and camps that have been known for several decades are being re-evaluated, in the sense of strategic support points in anticipation of Augustus' planned operations in Germania. In the Rhète region of the Alps, the passage of Roman troops during the campaigns of Drusus and Tiberius in 15 BC is also attested by shoe nails, a few weapons and ornaments, and slingshot bullets from the third, tenth and twelfth legions. Battles were fought with the local population, who were at pains to oppose the might of the Roman army.
The changes in history brought about by archaeology over the past thirty to forty years are far from negligible; they illustrate the necessary dialogue between different aspects and complementary approaches to the sciences of Antiquity.
