Archaeology: Under the Peach Orchard

French builders have traditionally been plagued by lagging technology, rigid construction codes and indifferent workers. Now even their ancestors seem to be conspiring against them. Almost everywhere the builders excavate for foundations, it seems, they uncover new and exciting archaeological ruins that Minister of Culture André Malraux deems more important than any immediate construction.

In Nice, Malraux ordered that work on a new luxury apartment building be delayed to give archaeologists a chance to probe the remnants of a prehistoric village unearthed on the site. Last year he halted construction of an important urban-renewal project in downtown Marseille and unleashed the archaeologists when power shovels uncovered massive fortifications built by Greeks during the 6th century B.C. Malraux has now struck again, using his influence to prevent the Rhône River town of Vienne from building a secondary school over what may well be the most important Roman ruins ever discovered in France.

Unseemly Haste. Alarmed last year when ten acres of farm land across the Rhône from Vienne was acquired for the badly needed school, Archaeologists Serge Tourrenc and Marcel Le Glay quietly began to probe beneath a peach orchard, suspecting that it covered ancient ruins of Roman Vienne. Three feet beneath the surface, on their first try, they found a colorful Roman mosaic. They alerted Malraux, then, with his support, proceeded to excavate five acres of the orchard with almost unseemly haste, hoping to prove the historical value of the site before the townspeople of Vienne could realize that their new school was in danger.

What they found exceeded their most optimistic hopes. They have uncovered a dozen luxurious villas, a tannery and dyeing factory, a highway and complex sewer and heating systems, all of which confirmed that Vienne was once a thriving Roman colony. Wealthy citizens decorated their homes with multicolored mosaics, 15 different kinds of marble, elaborate basins and fishponds. Because the town was often threatened by the flooding Rhône, there were drainage ditches six feet deep between each villa. To protect salt and wheat stored in villa storerooms from dampness, Vienne’s architects partially buried between 50 and 60 empty olive jars upside down in the earth beneath the rooms. Thus infiltrating waters would trap air in each, providing a dry-air barrier beneath the storerooms.

Warm Walls. The diggers discovered a section of the ancient Vienne-Lyon highway consisting of irregular granite paving stones three feet thick interspersed with limestone blocks. Holes cut in the limestone enabled inspectors to keep an eye on the sewer system underneath. The Romans had also anticipated the roadside refreshment stand by building a bar at the edge of the road, complete with earthen vases in which beverages were kept cool. A chariot driver could pull up to the bar and drink standing up while his horses drank at an adjacent fountain.

To protect residents from the cold Vienne winters, architects placed wood stoves under floors that were supported by brick pillars, and built walls of hollow bricks that would be heated by the fires below. An inscripted name, cut at intervals of ten feet along the lengths of lead pipes used to carry water in residential neighborhoods, revealed that one of ancient Vienne’s plumbers was called Caius Lucentius.

As the intent of the archaeologists to preserve the site became clear, a storm of opposition arose among the citizens of modern Vienne, who insisted that their school had first priority. But the wily archaeologists, abandoning their reticence, called in the press and television, granted interviews, and soon had all of France talking about visiting the Roman ruins of Vienne. Flattered by the national publicity and suddenly fascinated by the city of their 1st, 2nd and 3rd century ancestors, Vienne’s townspeople have now agreed to build their school on an adjoining 25-acre site —and to accept half a million dollars from Malraux’s ministry for their suddenly valuable peach orchard.

Archaeologists Tourrenc and Le Glay will now excavate the remaining five acres, hoping to find the remnants of Vienne’s stadium, which is mentioned in the writing of Pliny the Younger. If they are unsuccessful, the citizens and builders of Vienne could yet be frustrated. For who knows? The stadium or some other important ruin—may well lie beneath the new school site.