SAINT-THOMAS
(“Bibrax”) Aisne, France.
In the Laon arrondissement, canton of Sissonne. The
commune of Saint-Thomas is known chiefly for its oppidum, called Camp des Romains, Vieux-Laon, or Camp
de Saint-Thomas. Scholars have differed about this Gallic
fort, mainly in connection with the location of Caesar's
theater of operations against the Belgae (
BGall 1.2.6)
after he had crossed the Aisne. There have been a number of excavations and the ramparts, trenches, and central plateau are now being investigated.
The oppidum occupies the N of the commune, an area
of ca. 32 ha; its highest point is at contour 206. It was
built at one end of a plateau; a rampart oriented E-W
bars access to it, and the other three sides were defended
by the natural slopes of the spur, probably closed off
with a palisade. Inside, the camp was divided into two
parts by a rampart ca. 5 m high, oriented N-S; the larger
part is known as Camp de César, the smaller as Cour
Lévêque. The outer rampart was of the murus gallicus
type: holes have been found where beams were placed
horizontally to reinforce the rampart, along with big
iron stakes. The structure of the transverse rampart is
closer to the Belgian type: there is no trace of a murus
gallicus but instead there is a flat trench with a path in
front of it. The hypothesis that the transverse rampart
was erected after the N one, which is of a later type of
construction, is reinforced by the discovery of a post-Alesia coin of the Calauni. Many other Gallic coins have
been found on the plateau surface along with sherds from
Gallic potteries, but no other finds from the Roman era.
Recent arguments based on geography, topography,
and toponymy claim that Saint-Thomas is Bibrax, the
city of the Remi that Caesar conquered in A.D. 57. Various finds, chiefly flints, prove that the spur that the Gauls
made into a fortress was occupied to some extent from
early prehistory and its surface probably cleared in the
Neolithic Age. Remarkably well preserved, the site has
recently been classified.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
G. Lobjois, “L'Oppidum de Vieux Laon
à Saint-Thomas (Aisne),”
Revue du Nord 46, no. 181
(1964) 159-74; id., “Les fouilles de l'oppidum gaulois de
Vieux Laon à Saint-Thomas (Aisne),”
Celticum XV,
Actes du Vème colloque international d'Etudes Gauloises,
Celtiques et protoceltiques (1965); id., Suppl.
Ogam—Tradition Celtique 106 (1966) 1-34; E. Will, “Informations archéologiques,”
Gallia 25, 2 (1967) 189.
P. LEMAN
