Relanges, oppidum
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The oppidum (plural oppida): name given by Julius Caesar to designate a Gallic fortified camp. The one at Bonneval is 1.06 hectares (128 meters long and 83 wide), it is one of the many oppida in the Darney forest that serve as a border between the Leuques and Sequanes tribes, they control the communication routes between the Saône and the basins of the Meuse and Moselle. This small oppidum brought together modest housing and economic activities (1). The occupation of the site began in the Iron Age and ended in the 1st century AD. The Gauls were farmers and breeders, but also craftsmen renowned for their metallurgical production and especially bronze goldsmithing. The plateau juts out between two deep valleys that meet, it is surrounded by a rampart called murus gallicus (2), access to the plateau is cut off at the entrance to the camp by a ditch called vallum, hence the name barred spur, closed by a system of wooden gates (3) which were anchored in the cups dug into the sandstone rock (4). Mangin's interpretations in 1825 gave rise to legends. Two rocks cut by stonemasons were taken for a dolmen (5). A rock detached from the cliff (6) was taken for a menhir (historical errors, since the megaliths are of Neolithic origin). Three mounds were taken for tumuli (7) (tumulus in the singular). But from 1983, archaeologists have provided more rational explanations. The discovery of slag is evidence of iron and bronze craftsmanship. In the Middle Ages, the monks of the priory of Bonneval Christianized the pagan site with small crosses (8) engraved on the rocks: at the entrance to the site, near a captured spring (9) and the Sainte Claire spring (10).The oppidum (plural oppida): name given by Julius Caesar to designate a Gallic fortified camp. The one at Bonneval is 1.06 hectares (128 meters long and 83 wide), it is one of the many oppida in the Darney forest that serve as a border between the Leuques and Sequanes tribes, they control the communication routes between the Saône and the basins of the Meuse and Moselle. This small oppidum brought together modest housing and economic activities (1). The occupation of the site began in the Iron Age and ended in the 1st century AD. The Gauls were farmers and breeders, but also craftsmen renowned for their metallurgical production and especially bronze goldsmithing. The plateau juts out between two deep valleys that meet, it is surrounded by a rampart called murus gallicus (2), access to the plateau is cut off at the entrance to the camp by a ditch called vallum, hence the name barred spur, closed by a system of wooden gates (3) which were anchored in the cups dug into the sandstone rock (4). Mangin's interpretations in 1825 gave rise to legends. Two rocks cut by stonemasons were taken for a dolmen (5). A rock detached from the cliff (6) was taken for a menhir (historical errors, since the megaliths are of Neolithic origin). Three mounds were taken for tumuli (7) (tumulus in the singular). But from 1983, archaeologists have provided more rational explanations. The discovery of slag is evidence of iron and bronze craftsmanship. In the Middle Ages, the monks of the priory of Bonneval Christianized the pagan site with small crosses (8) engraved on the rocks: at the entrance to the site, near a captured spring (9) and the Sainte Claire spring (10).
The oppidum (plural oppida): name given by Julius Caesar to designate a Gallic fortified camp. The one at Bonneval is 1.06 hectares (128 meters long and 83 wide), it is one of the many oppida in the Darney forest that serve as a border between the Leuques and Sequanes tribes, they control the communication routes between the Saône and the basins of the Meuse and Moselle. This small oppidum brought together modest housing and economic activities (1). The occupation of the site began in the Iron Age and ended in the 1st century AD. The Gauls were farmers and breeders, but also craftsmen renowned for their metallurgical production and especially bronze goldsmithing. The plateau juts out between two deep valleys that meet, it is surrounded by a rampart called murus gallicus (2), access to the plateau is cut off at the entrance to the camp by a ditch called vallum, hence the name barred spur, closed by a system of wooden gates (3) which were anchored in the cups dug into the sandstone rock (4). Mangin's interpretations in 1825 gave rise to legends. Two rocks cut by stonemasons were taken for a dolmen (5). A rock detached from the cliff (6) was taken for a menhir (historical errors, since the megaliths are of Neolithic origin). Three mounds were taken for tumuli (7) (tumulus in the singular). But from 1983, archaeologists have provided more rational explanations. The discovery of slag is evidence of iron and bronze craftsmanship. In the Middle Ages, the monks of the priory of Bonneval Christianized the pagan site with small crosses (8) engraved on the rocks: at the entrance to the site, near a captured spring (9) and the Sainte Claire spring (10).
