To the south of Tavannes is the Pierre Pertuis Pass (elevation 827 m.). A few hundred meters to the north of the summit a road uses a passage in the rock. An inscription carved into the rock above the passage, on the north side, documents the laying out of the road by Marcus Dunius Paternus. He was mayor of Aventicum (Avenches VD), sometime after 71 AD. Most authors think that the passage is natural, and that Paternus enlarged it (today the passage is 10.5 m. wide). Recently it has been argued that it was entirely artificial.
The passage with the inscription of Marcus Dunius Paternus. Photo: Archäologische Lernorte im Kanton Bern.
Detail of the inscription of Marcus Dunius Paternus. Photo: Archäologische Lernorte im Kanton Bern.
NVMINI AVGVS
T[o]RVM
VIA [d]VCTA PER M(arcum)
DVNIVM PATERNVM
IIVIR(um) COL(oniae) HELVET(iorum)To the divine power of the
Emperors.
The road was laid out by Marcus
Dunius Paternus,
mayor of the Colony of the Helvetians.The inscription above the passage. W. 1.52, h. 0.95.
Kolb et al. 2022, nr. 335; EDCS-10800571.The present name of the pass, attested for the first time in 1179, was derived from the Latin petra pertusa, "pierced rock". The inscription was mentioned for the first time by a monk from Basel in 1274.
A watercolour of the passage by Peter Birmann, c. 1792. Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.A stretch of a road to the west, at the locality La Tanne, has two grooves, 1.08-1.10 apart, and steps. This stretch has always been thought to be Roman. Radiocarbon dating of wood excavated in the area in 1993-1994 only produced Mediaeval dates however.
The road at locality La Tanne. Photo: Gerber 2008, Fig. 2.Also in the years 1993-1994 another stretch of road was investigated, a bit to the north of the passage. The road was 5-6 m. wide and had a surface of gravel. This road could be assigned to the second half of the first century through radiocarbon dating of wood in the substructure.
Reconstruction of the road to the north. Gerber 1997, Fig. 70.
Literature
Moosbrugger-Leu 1968; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 524; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 260-261; Gerber 1997; Gerber 2008; Kolb 2019.
[9-Nov-2023]
