Site archéologique de hauteur fortifié préhistorique

English translation

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History

The butte Sainte-Geneviève, overlooking the entire valley of the Meurthe, extends the plateau of Malzéville which dominates Nancy to the north-east. This butte, with an area of 20 hectares, measures approximately 650 to 700 m long, and its width is between 50 and 60 m. This elevated site is surrounded by natural cliffs and protected by a rampart which defended its entrance to the north-east, the only place by which it was easily accessible. The rampart, which bars the pass, is rectilinear over a length of 60 m, then folds back following an angle of 50° over 10 m long before joining the western flank. It then forms a salient angle which borders an access path to the butte. Only a ditch, of natural origin but probably arranged during the construction of the rampart, precedes this embankment. This rampart is constituted of a shoulder of triangular section (15 m for the external faces, 9 or 10 m for the internal faces and 20 to 22 m for the base). It reaches a height of 3 m to 3.5 m relative to the ground level inside the enclosure, and a height of 6 m relative to the bottom of the ditch. Its construction was carried out by making the best use of the irregularities of the terrain. The cross-section of this shoulder revealed a layer of stones and vegetable soil (20 to 50 cm high) resting on a core of lime mixed with charcoal and partially charred logs. This core (1.35 m thick), situated in the middle of the slope, reinforces the solidity of the shoulder. The presence of lime and charred logs allows this rampart to be attributed to the type "with calcined mass", which is known in Lorraine only through three other examples: the camp d'Afrique at Messein, the Fourasse at Champigneulles and the côte de Sion. It should be noted moreover that these 4 sites are all situated in the south of the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. A true border wall appears to have protected the western face of the oppidum. An excavation revealed at this location a calcined core approximately 4 m below the level given by the surface of the plateau. This core, a stable base, could have supported a faced wall. Military works prior to 1909 and successive excavations (J. Beaupré in 1909, P. Dubuisson from 1927 to 1939 with the collaboration of G. Poirot, J.-M. Hanus in 1973) made it possible to reveal the phases of occupation of the site. The discovery of polished axes and flint tools proves that the site was occupied from the Neolithic period, but it is to the period of the final La Tène (- 120 to - 50) that the main occupation should be attributed. It is indeed to this period that belong the 67 quadrangular "hut floors" revealed by the excavations, which must be interpreted as cellars and storage structures. Their length varies from 2.30 m to 4.80 m and their width from 1.90 m to 2.60 m for a depth of 1 m to 1.95 m. Their covering rested on four corner posts. The dwellings corresponding to these storage structures were not found, but the presence of hearths suggests their existence. These structures yielded abundant characteristic artefacts: ceramics, coins, fibulae, wine amphorae imported from Italy, as well as various objects including a draught ring and a harpoon mould. The site moreover appears to have housed an iron metallurgy activity. The site thus possesses the double interest of presenting both a defensive structure of an infrequent type (rampart "with calcined mass"), as well as traces of dense occupation.