Urban water was supplied to the Roman city of Forum Julii (Fréjus, southeastern France) for at least 200 years by a 39.4 km long aqueduct, operating in ad 50. Two perennial springs were successively collected, the Foux and the Siagnole, located at the outlet of Triassic and Jurassic karstic reservoirs, respectively. In this study, we performed high‐resolution PIXE (Particle‐Induced X‐ray Emission) measurements of Ca, Si, Fe and Sr concentrations on selected cross‐sections of laminated carbonate sampled along the sidewalls, before and after the connection of the two collection channels. Seasonal variations of water composition, suspended sediment load and discharge are recorded by alternating clear and dark layers, and can be traced by their Sr and Fe contents. On the basis of an annual bimodal high‐discharge regime for the two karstic reservoirs, the concentration measurements allow the derivation of a chronological record (117.5 years) of water supply and maintenance activities for a part of the operational period of the aqueduct. The water level in the channel was mainly controlled by the extent of carbonate deposition and by dredging, repair and maintenance operations rather than by the past hydrological regime of the two springs.
de Fre ´jus, situe ´sur les marges d'une ancienne ria holoce `ne, a fait l'objet d'un programme de recherches arche ´ologiques et pale ´o-environnementales. Nous avons pu effectuer des carottages dans le bassin portuaire romain. L'e ´tude haute-re ´solution des se ´diments a pour objectif la caracte ´risation et la reconstitution chrono-stratigraphique et bio-se ´dimentologique des milieux. Ces travaux ont permis : (1) de valider l'hypothe `se de Texier (1849) qui interpre `te le milieu pre ´-portuaire comme correspondant a `un fond de baie marine. Excoffon et al., 2006et Devillers et al., 2007 soulignent la pre ´sence d'une co ˆte rocheuse a `la butte Saint-Antoine, a `l'e ´poque de la cre ´ation du port, rapidement transforme ´e en co ˆte meuble sous l'influence des apports de ´tritiques de l'Argens ; (2) Nos travaux ont ensuite permis de valider la date de fondation du port estime ´e a `2025 AE 30 BP (120 cal. BC-60 cal. AD), en accord avec les e ´crits historiques, au de ´but du re `gne d'Auguste, (3) de mettre en e ´vidence deux stades de confinement portuaire. Le facie `s se ´dimentaire correspondant au milieu portuaire traduit une lagune euryhaline (B1 et B3). Il se continentalise progressivement en se transformant en un lac d'eau douce (B4), en raison de la progradation du delta de l'Argens qui a peu a `peu e ´loigne ´le bassin portuaire de la ligne de rivage. La quasi-absence d'archives se ´dimentaires entre la fin du premier sie `cle avant notre e `re jusqu'au septie `me sie `cle apre `s notre e `re (vitesse de se ´dimentation relative d'environ 0,5 mm/an) est re ´ve ´latrice de possibles curages portuaires.ß 2011 Acade ´mie des sciences. Publie ´par Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits re ´serve ´s.
The geographic area of the Permian depression, the Massif des Maures and the Estérel is heterogeneous. During the Iron Age human implantation basically corresponds to local circumstances. The fortified hill-top habitat remains the principal dwelling place and is no longer occupied after the years 30/20 B. C. It has never been possible to study the internal arrangement of this habitat exhaustively. Non-fortified hill-top habitats are rare. The settlements in the plain, at the foot of a hill, on the slope or on the plateau are always open and exist during practically the entire Iron Age. Those in the plain develop particularly during the Ist century B.C. in the shape of hamlets, when the hill-top habitats are abandoned. Caves are not much used. There are few indigenous places of worship and few cremation tombs. During the entire Iron Age the region studied presents a cultural continuity, an undeniable archaism and a tendency to marginalization.
The Saint-Lambert necropolis extended to the east of the ancient Roman city, on both sides of a road identified as the Via Per Alpes Maritimas. It is bordered by by small, square mausoleums, sometimes set within enclosures. Other, simpler graves were placed in pits carved in the bedrock. Cremations were far more common than burials. This necropolis was used from the lst century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D. Three cremation sites contained the remains of beds decorated with carved bone, on which the deceased was cremated. Inspired by models made of bronze and derived from a Hellinistic type of bed, they can be divided into three main parts : the legs, the frame and armrests called fulcra, which are all decorated with carved bone. The legs were composed of alternating elements, like a baluster. The frame and the fulcrum were faced with decorative moldings or carved floral or figured decoration. This type of decoration is closely related to the Italian beds. The reconstitutions presented are hypothetical, since only incomplete or burnt elements remain ; however, they are based on the few complete beds of the same type known in the Roman world, in particular, the ones in Cambridge, Norcia and New York. From the study of material contained in these graves and their archeological context, these beds can be dated back to the Augustan era.
In Fréjus Porte d'Orée excavations, two underfloor spaces (30 A.D. and flavian period) kept very well preserved 95 amphoras. This specific system of purification with re-used amphoras, is well known in Italy, but frequent in Gaul as well since a long time. The Fréjus one has distinctive signs. New local amphoras productions — tiberian flat bottom ones, Dr. 14 variant and a whole series of Dr. 2/4 — make the Fréjus list much more important. Wine and fish local productions as well as exports, have to be seen now in different terms.
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