In Arconciel, some seven kilometers to the south of Fribourg, excavations were carried out in the years 2002-2003 in the main house of a villa at the locality Es Nés. A stone building had been erected in the second century, replacing a wooden building from the second half of the first century.
View of the excavation. Photo: Auberson et al. 2003, fig. 1.
Plan of the villa. In grey: the cellar. Saby-Vauthey 2003, Abb. 3.
To the west was a subsidiary building measuring 12 x 8 m. The excavated part of the main house measured 34 x 24 m. Rooms were flanked by two porticoes. In the south-west part was a room with a hypocaust, probably a bathing room. In the east part was a cellar measuring 7.80 x 5.80 m. In the cellar two bronze arms and pieces of clothing were found that had formed part of two larger-than-life honorary statues of dignitaries, perhaps even Emperors. Traces of silver plating or gilding were seen. The statues may orginally have been standing in Aventicum (Avenches VD).
The two bronze arms. L. 0.92 and 0.87. Photo: Musée d'Art et d'Histoire Fribourg.In 1991 a burial place was excavated a bit to the east, at the locality Pré de l'Arche. A total of 80 burials was found: 72 cremations and 8 inhumations. Four cremations, in glass urns, were found inside an enclosure measuring 19.00 x 10.60 m. A hearth set against the exterior points to funerary meals. Nearby was a rectangular building measuring 10.35 x 7.85 m., with a wall 0.90-1.00 m. thick. Its function is not clear.
Literature
Vauthey 1992; Auberson et al. 2003; Saby-Vauthey 2003; Bürge et al. 2013, 63.
[17-Apr-2024]
