Archaeology:the portrait of an irreducible Breton Gaul

This bust, probably the portrait of an aristocrat from the 1st century BC. J.-C., was brought to light in the Côtes d'Armor • INRAP / SERVICE DE PRESSE

We talk about it less than the publication of the last Asterix. However, a Gallic discovery in Brittany deserves the spotlight:the discovery in Trémuson, near Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d'Armor), of four stone sculptures dating from the I ^st century BC. AD, exceptional according to the archaeologists of Inrap (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research) who excavated the site before the construction of the buildings of a logistics platform.

The first statue, found face down in a rectangular pit, represents a 40 cm high bust sculpted in the rock. It is probably a Gallic aristocrat with hair and beard chiseled in detail, and wearing a torque (a necklace symbolizing the bravery and dignity of the deceased) around his neck. This object of adornment was reserved for high-ranking warriors and magistrates. The other three statues rested in a well filled in during the Gallic period. Also discovered were ceramics of local production, fragments of amphoras which indicate that the inhabitants consumed wine from Italy and Spain, a vase, pieces of turned wood, a bucket of water... All these vestiges testify of the wealth of their owner.

Aristocratic Banquet

Another key find in the well was a finely wrought bronze-rimmed wooden bucket, 20 cm in diameter, which was decorated with Celtic motifs. The humidity of the well allowed its preservation. For researchers, it is a major work of Celtic art, probably used to adorn banquet tables. The object also indicates that the master of the place was at the top of the social ladder of his time.

Archaeologists knew that a Gallic farm was located in this place between the IV ^e and the I ^st century BC. Postholes and foundation trenches show that the houses were around 100 square meters in size. Other statues discovered in the early 1990s, still in Côtes-d'Armor, 70 km from the site, had been interpreted as effigies of members of the aristocracy intended to perpetuate the memory of the family. Perhaps those of Trémuson played the same role.