TIMES OF CRISIS AND THE DATING OF LATE ROMAN URBAN DEFENCES IN EASTERN GAUL
Whereas only a few cities in roman Gaul were fortified already in the early empire, a great
number of town walls mushroomed literally during the second half of the 3rd and the 4th
century A.D. in wide parts of the Tres Galliae. Looking at the unstable situation regarding the
home affairs and mindful of the – according to the reports of Ammianus – growing threat of
invasions by alemannic bands, the motivation for these measures was long time considered as
obvious. Yet, the lack of chronological correlation in the construction of the various
fortifications and the frequent impossibility to tie their erection to situations of actual conflict,
led to an increasing questioning of this point of view in the last decades.
Unfortunately only few fortifications can be dated by written sources or archaeological data.
For the Vicus of Dijon, for example, there is testimony of Gregor from Tours, who claims that
its town walls were build during the reign of Aurelian. Although there is no archaeological
confirmation of this dating, even the fortifications of the adjacent settlements of Beaune and
Chalon-sur-Saône were quickly sort into the same period, considering their construction as a
simultaneous regional response to a collective threat. Strangely enough is the presence of the
flourishing settlement of Les Bolards midway between Beaune and Dijon, which remained
not only unfortified but also undestroyed till its abandonment in the 5th century.
In this paper the particular situation in the area alongside the main road from Lyon to Trier
shall be considered against the background of archaeological data and historical tradition. In
particular the line of late roman town walls between Chalon-sur-Saône and Langres will be of
interest. The single monuments shall be examined with regards to their construction form,
their relation to the earlier settlement and last but not least to the most interesting reused
monumental masonry. Final aim is the chronological placement and the reevaluation of the
fortifying activities in an area situated in the second row behind the main stage of hostile
invasion.