The Celts – or Gauls, as the ancient Romans called them – were certainly the people who, more than others, gave the Roman Empire a hard time . It was not until 51 BC. AD, after at least two centuries of bloody struggles and heroic deeds on both sides, that Julius Caesar succeeds in defeating Vercingetorix and his people.
The Roman conquest gave birth to many towns, traces of which have however been lost over time . One of them, however, now seems to have come to light. Let’s see this discovery in detail.
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During excavations in Uzès , in the south of France, about 140 km from Marseille, French archaeologists discovered the remains of a city that has disappeared for centuries and is known only for a few stelae from Nîmes . In these ancient relics, his name, in Latin Ucetia , appears along with that of 11 other towns scattered throughout the region.
The discovery can be considered fortuitous: the excavation area had already been intended for the construction of a canteen when the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) asked to carry out the excavations. And that’s when INRAP unearthed a huge and beautiful mosaic, probably dating from the first century BC. J.-C
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The mosaic found measures 60 square meters and is surrounded by a colonnade. It consists of geometric decorative patterns and four animals at the angles: an owl, a duck, an eagle, and a wild animal. Philippe Cayn, the archaeologist in charge of the excavations, declared that the discovery is really surprising, first of all for the beauty and the state of conservation of the work. Moreover, although these works are very present in Roman art, the Ucetia mosaic appears to be dated at least a century earlier than other similar finds.
In total, archaeologists have unearthed, with the mosaic, 250 square meters of remains belonging to a city, Ucetia therefore, inhabited from the 1st century BC to the 7th century AD, with an interval (not yet explained) of two centuries, from the 3rd to the 4th century AD.
Although the excavations are not yet complete, it can certainly be said that the discovery of Ucetia was truly a sensational find .
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