Helvetian oppida

The theme of the first towns of the Helvetians was addressed in the second lecture. In the space of a generation, research has considerably broadened the horizons of reflection: 4 new ramparts, 2 new oppida, a thorough revision of interpretations... The refined chronology of the second half of the ^2nd and ^1st centuries BC, with sequences of the order of a generation, is no stranger to this renewal. Here are just a few examples: Berne in the western part of the Plateau(Brenodurum, as we learn from an inscription on a zinc plate unearthed in 1984), covering an area of 140 hectares, with a rampart with frontal posts, layers of settlements, cult areas (depots, sanctuaries) and several groups of tombs outside the walls, was undoubtedly the main Helvetian oppidum. Mont Vully, on the other hand, a vast stronghold of some 50 hectares built around 120 B.C., dominating Lakes Murten and Neuchâtel (with La Tène at its foot), remains virtually unoccupied. Yverdon-les-Bains, on a barrier beach at the other end of Lake Neuchâtel, a small site (3-4 hectares) occupied as early as the ^4th century BC, was fortified in 80 BC by a powerful rampart with frontal posts (like that of Vully). Like Berne, this oppidum (Eburodunum) became a vicus in the first centuries AD. In eastern Switzerland, we should mention the double oppidum of Altenburg (Germany) and Rheinau on the Rhine, or Zurich, where recent finds in the middle of the medieval urban fabric confirm that, contrary to what has been written for decades, the Turicum vicus was indeed occupied at the end of the La Tène period. Similarly, the rampart of the Windisch oppidum was only discovered in 2003, after more than 100 years of excavation in the Roman camps of Vindonissa! On the other hand, little is known about the agricultural settlements and farms in the territory attributed to the Helvetians; while, according to the figures given by Caesar, we managed to identify a dozen oppida, for the 400 vici and numerous privata aedificia we're still a long way off the mark!