Rome à la campagne : les décors en pierre de la villa de la Grande Boussue à Nouvelles (Mons, Belgique), (original) (raw)

Gallia, Archéologie des Gaules, 80, 2, 2023, p. 145-178.

Abstract

The Gallo-Roman villa of La Grande Boussue is located on the southern slope of the Haine basin, in the province of Hainaut (Belgium). Successive excavations were carried out first at the end of the 19th century, later from 1964 to 1985. They highlight the size and wealth of this rural settlement within the Nervian civitas, located 16 km away from its capital, Bavay. During these excavations a lot of ornamental stones were collected, suggesting the existence of stone revetments in several rooms of the villa, especially in the baths. However, most of it belongs to the complex decoration of a heated room, which remained in use until the last decades of the 3rd century AD. Its ostentatious style, comfort and sizes lead to the assumption that it was a reception room built away from the baths. This research also led to a thorough examination of the excavation data for the whole settlement: when compared with the chronologies based on the ceramic studies already carried out, they make it possible to suggest a development plan for this villa, the surface area of which, estimated at a minimum of 4 hectares, could be clearly revised upwards, in view of its presumed size and its aristocratic rank.

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