Roman finds under Notre-Dame Cathedral

[guy]

 

Archaeologists excavating the forecourt of Notre‑Dame Cathedral—opened after the 2019 fire reconstruction and the city’s plan to redesign the plaza—have uncovered a densely layered record of Paris stretching back nearly 2,000 years. 

The dig has produced hundreds of artifacts, including a fourth‑century coin bearing Emperor Constantine’s image (see above), intact medieval ceramics preserved in old latrines, and pottery fragments marked with mysterious reddish inscriptions that specialists have not yet deciphered. 
 

The Roman finds beneath Notre‑Dame amount to a late‑antique occupation layer—supported by a fourth‑century Constantine coin. This reveals a compact neighborhood of Roman Paris preserved under later medieval construction.

 

 

 

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/notre-dame-cathedral-dig-of-the-century-treasures-found/

[guidoLaMoto]

You'd think the Isle de la Cite' would be loaded with ancient artifacts, being the site of the original encampment that was to become Paris. A natural island, the river formed a moat that would be most easily defended. It was the location of the Roman governor's home in late antiquity.

Rome's Tiberina island was man made- sediment building up around Tarquinius Superbus' crop angrily thrown into the shoals (vadum) of the river by the Romans after devastating his fields as they deposed him in 509BC.