Bibracte - Archeological Research On Mont Beuvray

Archeological Research On Mont Beuvray

From 1865 to 1895, Gabriel Bulliot identified Bibracte in 1867 and began excavations there (notably the Celtic artisinal neighborhood surrounding the Rebout gate), with the aid of funds allocated by Napoleon III. In fact, having a passion for history, the emperor set off vast campaigns of excavations to uncover sites of the Gallic War in order to write his History of Julius Caesar. The modest "Hotel of the Gauls" which housed the researcher on the premises had been constructed there since. Joseph Déchelette, the nephew of Bulliot, took up his work again from 1895 to 1907. He was killed during World War I. Thus, the excavations fell into neglect. In 1984, the excavations began again under the impetus of François Mitterrand, who proclaimed Bibracte a site of national interest in 1985. This term, invented for the occasion, would permit the site to be subsidized. The label of "national interest" was created afterward in order to designate exhibitions or sites which benefit from a program of diffusion and enlargement of the public by the Minister of Culture. This will always give the necessary impetus to a project of excavations of European scope. Thus, in 1989, the European Archeological Center of Mont Beuvray was created, which will reassemble the site, the museum, and the research center of Glux-en-Glenne. It was inaugurated in 1995. By order on March 21, 1995, the Minister of Culture, on the advice of the National Council of Archeological Research, confirmed the oppidum of Bibracte (Mont-Beuvray, Saint-Léger-sous-Beuvray; Saône-et-Loire; Glux-en-Glenne; Nièvre). The excavations were actually conducted by Vincent Guichard and put into practice by many French and foreign teams; the excavations notably concentrated on the Gallic neighborhood of Rebout, on the vast Gallo-Roman ensemble of the Pasture of the Convent and the Roman residence of the Horse Park.

Thus, specialists, researchers, professors and students from all over Europe mix on the site every summer in order to excavate different parts of the site. These included, among others:

• Austria: University of Vienna
• Belgium: Université Libre de Bruxelles
• Czech Republic: Masaryk University
• France: University of Franche-Comté, University of Burgundy, University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, Pierre and Marie Curie University, François Rabelais University
• Germany: University of Kiel, University of Leipzig, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Mainz
• Hungary: Eötvös Loránd University
• Italy: University of Bologna
• Poland: Rzeszów University
• Slovenia: University of Ljubljana
• Spain: University of Madrid and University of Zaragoza
• Switzerland: University of Lausanne
• United Kingdom: University of Edinburgh

Each university excavates the site in the form of triannual projects which currently depend on the comprehension of the operation of a Celtic city of the La Tène period. Their research consists of several weeks of work on the terrain which is followed by a detailed study of the excavation and of the discovered objects which are then stored at the site's research center.