An excavation in Pacé, northwestern France, has uncovered remains from the Late Bronze Age to the Middle Ages, including a Roman road and an exceptional gold intaglio ring lost by a traveler on it. The site was excavated by National Insтιтute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) in advance of development, revealing
The ring has an intricate chased gold setting and a nicolo intaglio engraved with a figure of Venus Victrix (Venus the Conqueress, the Roman goddess of Love after she wins the golden apple and triumphs over Juno and Minerva in the Judgment of Paris). A Nicolo intaglio is made with onyx, a variety of chalcedony with parallel bands, usually of black and/or white. Nicolo cameos are carved so that the black layer is the background while the thin top layer takes on a bluish hue. The carved out areas then expose the black for a striking dark mode look.
It is an opulent piece, far more elaborate in the decoration of the gold than a similar ring in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s a little later that the Met’s ring, dating to between the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
The ring was discovered on an ancient road about 26 feet wide with ditches on each side. It was not paved, but topped with a gravel layer of quartz pebbles. Traces of ruts from ancient wheeled conveyances are still visible on the surface. Archaeologists believe it served with a nearby settlement that was occupied between the 2nd and 4th centuries.
That hamlet was revived and expanded between the 5th and 10th centuries, reaching its peak in the 7th and 8th centuries. It consisted of a series of rectangular plots surrounded by ditches and connected by paths. Some are dwellings with walls of earth and wood, others agricultural plots, pastures, underground grain silos, hearths, ovens and water reservoirs. Archaeologists found evidence that that the oven pits were used not just to cook food, but also to process crops, ie, to roast and dry grains. The community grew organically, starting with one farm working a couple of plots, which then attracted new settlers who built additional plots with different purposes.
The artifacts ᴀssociated with the hamlet are primarily ceramics (tableware, cooking vessels, storage vessels), but one exceptional find was a mini-hoard of a dozen Carolingian denarii from the 9th-10th centuries. The residents also reused ancient materials like terracotta roof tiles and bricks for various purposes in the plots. Fragments of cob with traces of adobe and plaster still attached will be analyzed for information about construction techniques of the era.
