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Bibracte, a Gaulish ''oppidum'' or fortified city, was the capital of the Aedui and one of the most important hillforts in Gaul. It was situated near modern Autun in Burgundy, France. The material culture of the Aedui corresponded to the Late Iron Age La Tène culture, In 58 BC, at the Battle of Bibracte, Julius Caesar's armies defeated the Helvetii 16 miles south of the fort. In 52 BC, Vercingetorix was proclaimed head of the Gaulish coalition at Bibracte. Also there Julius Caesar, the victor at the battle of Alesia, completed dictating his ''Gallic Wars''. A few decades after the Roman conquest of Gaul, Bibracte was abandoned in favour of Autun, 25 kilometres distant. Once abandoned, Bibracte remained undisturbed and unexamined until discovered by modern archaeology. Jacques Gabriel Bulliot initiated the first excavations at the site between 1867 and 1895. His nephew Joseph Déchelette, author of a famous ''Manuel d'Archéologie'', continued the excavations between 1897 and 1907. The modern site known as Mont Beuvray is generally identified as ancient Bibracte. The site straddles the borders of the French départements of Nièvre and Saône-et-Loire in Burgundy. The site is an archaeological park at the centre of a protected forest. It is the focus of cooperative European archaeological efforts, a training ground for young archaeologists, and a centre for interpreting Gaulish culture for a popular audience. Important international excavations have been undertaken at Mont Beuvray by teams from the universities of Sheffield, Kiel, Budapest, Vienna and Leipzig. On December 12, 2007, the site of Bibracte received the "Great Site of France" Label. Before the Roman conquest in 52 BC the great Celtic city of Bibracte had more than thirty thousand inhabitants. protected by a huge stone wall of the Murus Gallicus type enclosing an area of 135 hectares. == Etymology == The origin of the word ''Bibracte'' is still poorly understood. The term may have come from the Celtic '' *bibro- / *bebro-'' (beaver) followed by the collective suffix ''-akti'' (cf. Irish, Gallic ''aktā'')〔Pierre-Yves Lambert, La langue gauloise, éditions errance 1994.〕 or from the Latin ''biffractrus'' (twice fortified).〔Christian Goudineau et Christian Peyre, Bibracte et les Éduens, ''À la découverte d'un peuple gaulois'', éditions errance, 1993, p15〕 The latter version, however, is thought questionable from a strategic view,〔D'un point de vue phonétique également, Biffractus aurait donné '' *Beffray'' et non pas ''Beuvray''.〕 since it is very difficult to protect a battlement over a long distance, a problem which a double battlement would only have exacerbated. Furthermore, the surrounding wall of the city has shrunk since dating methods made it possible to show the precedence of the outer battlements compared to the inner battlements (see the map). The stone facing of the outer surrounding wall, moreover, was certainly reused for the construction of the second wall. Therefore, it is unlikely that Bibracte had two surrounding walls at the same time. Three inscriptions dedicated to the goddess ''Bibracte'' which were found at Autun in the 17th century provide another explanation for the name, but two of the inscriptions carved into the stone have disappeared and the authenticity of the third, engraved on a brass medallion, has been the object of debate. Some scholars of the era have cited other evidence to justify placing the Aeduian oppidum on the site of Autun (the former Augustodunum), which was effectively the capital of the Aedui in the first century.〔Christian Goudineau et Christian Peyre, Bibracte et les Éduens, ''À la découverte d'un peuple gaulois'', éditions Errance, pp1-6 1993〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bibracte」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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