|
Introduction Houses and workshops Mansio, gate and fortification |
Temples Bridge and harbour Burials |
Two areas with temples were found. The larger area, at the locality Gumpboden, was excavated in 1937-1939. It measured 190 x 70 m. and was enclosed by a stone wall. In the wall were three entrances, 1.55-1.80 m. wide: a main entrance in the short west wall, and two narrower entrances in the centre of the two long walls. In the area were two clusters of three Gallo-Roman temples. The largest temple measured 15.50 x 15.20 m. with a cella of 9.60 x 9.30 m. The smallest temple measured 9.70 x 9.10 m. with a cella of 5.60 x 4.80. Between and next to the clusters were three small, square "chapels", consisting of a single room, and a cistern, four meters deep. A building in the east part may have been the house of a priest or used for banquets (22 x 12.18 m.). The area was used from the first century BC until the fourth century.
Plan of the larger temple area. Drack-Fellmann 1988, Abb. 487.
1-3, 4-6: clusters of temples; 7-9: "chapels"; 10: "house of a priest"; 11: cistern.
Reconstruction drawing of the larger temple area. Atelier Marc Zaugg through Archäologische Lernorte im Kanton Bern.
Part of the larger temple area during the excavation in 1937.
Photo: Archäologische Lernorte im Kanton Bern.
Part of the larger temple area as it appears today. Photo: Wikimedia, Tankstellenidau.Inscriptions were not found, but from bronze objects has been deduced that the deities worshipped here were the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva), Mercurius, Mars and Epona (protectress of horses).
Brooches found in the larger temple area. Photos: Neues Museum Biel.
Left: in the shape of an owl (of Minerva?). Right: in the shape of a boat with three people (the passage of the dead into the afterlife?).
Towards the south-east a single temple was found in 1964 at the locality Ried. It measured 10.50 x 9.70 m. with a cella of 4.70 x 4 m. Nearby was a small single room, in the interior of which an oval trench was found containing a small bronze mythical animal.
The smaller temple area during the excavation. Photo: Grütter 1964, Abb. 15.
The bronze mythical animal. Photo: Grütter 1964, Abb. 17.
Introduction
Houses and workshops
Mansio, gate and fortificationTemples
Bridge and harbour
Burials
[30-Oct-2023]
