AMERICANALMANAC (Charles McAdams) - Ancient wall unearthed beneath Paris hospital may pinpoint where the city began
Archaeologists digging beneath a historic hospital on Paris's Île de la Cité have uncovered a 65-foot Gallo-Roman wall that France's culture ministry calls a "major breakthrough" in tracing the city's founding settlement. The stone-and-wood structure, discovered this summer during excavations beneath the Hôtel-Dieu, a landmark hospital steps from Notre Dame Cathedral, bears traces of fire […] The post Ancient wall unearthed beneath Paris hospital may pinpoint where the city began appeared first on American Almanac .
Archaeologists digging beneath a historic hospital on Paris's Île de la Cité have uncovered a 65-foot Gallo-Roman wall that France's culture ministry calls a "major breakthrough" in tracing the city's founding settlement. The stone-and-wood structure, discovered this summer during excavations beneath the Hôtel-Dieu, a landmark hospital steps from Notre Dame Cathedral, bears traces of fire and dates to somewhere between 10 B.C. and 200 B.C., based on carbon dating of charred material. French Culture Minister Catherine Pegard said the find could reshape what historians know about Lutetia, the ancient settlement that eventually became Paris. If confirmed as a fragment of Lutetia's ramparts, the wall would place the original Gallic…Open