LA CITÉ CELTIQUE DE LA BURE

La Bure classified as a historical monument. As early as the final Neolithic period, 4000 years ago, the promontory of La Bure welcomed its first inhabitants. Stone tools testify to this in the Pierre-Noël museum. But it was mainly from the 1st century BC to the middle of the 4th century AD that La Bure was organised as a camp sheltered behind walls. Huts and places of worship were built; craft activities completed the agricultural and pastoral economy.

The excavations carried out from 1964 to 1986 revealed the interest and richness of the camp, the 2nd archaeological site in the Vosges department. A murus gallicus (1st century B.C.), one of the few still visible in Eastern France, was discovered on the site. Beams reinforce the cohesion of the 7.50m wide dry stone masonry. A later ditch dug in the front at the pointerolle isolates the camp from the rest of the mountain (barred spur technique). The peripheral rampart (end of the 3rd century, mid 4th century AD) is still visible on half of the route, i.e. about 350m. It supports the natural defences represented by the rocky peaks surrounding the Bure

Several gates give access to the camp, in particular a fairly well-preserved one to the north, coming from a path that has retained its pavement over a few meters. Sheltered behind this defensive system, the Gauls, who had become Gallo-Romans, observed the movements in the valleys that converged below. Don't miss the viewpoint at the north-western end of the camp!

Cult ponds, probably also water reservoirs, are dug in several places. See those dedicated to the Dianes and Taranis. Cast stelae, beyond the funerary rites, bring back the profession of blacksmith, the habitat, the cults. It is at the Pierre Noël museum that you can discover the objects themselves and complete, around a model, the reconstruction of Antiquity in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges and the surrounding area. Steles, coins, tools, jewellery, ceramics, sculptures truly recreate the Gallo-Roman world, that is to say the mixture that took place between the Celtic forms and traditions in force in the Vosges mountains and the contributions of Romanity.

DATAtourisme France