2023-06-16 06:00:34
Started in March 2022, the vast excavation of the surroundings of the basilica of Saint-Quentin (Aisne) will soon enter its final phase. Conducted by the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) prior to the redevelopment of the entire square, it should make it possible to reconstruct the history of this district in the heart of the Picardy city. Many structures have already been unearthed, such as the remains of the Saint-André church demolished during the Revolution, the residences of the canons who managed the basilica or even a cloister. The excavation also confirmed that in the XVe century an ambitious project to transform the facade of the basilica, with two large towers and three portals worthy of a cathedral, had started well before being stopped.
For Jean-Jacques Thévenard, archaeologist at Inrap and responsible for the operation, “It’s an exceptional project in terms of its scope – in total we will be working on 10,000 m2which is rare in the historic city center – and its duration”. The excavations should be completed by the end of the year. Paradoxically, the sector was “lucky” in having been intensely bombarded by the Allies to dislodge the Germans who held Saint-Quentin during the First World War. After the end of the conflict, recalls Jean-Jacques Thévenard, “the city has decided to clear the area around the basilica as much as possible to create a vast forecourt”. Everything was therefore leveled to ground level, which made it possible to preserve what was below. It is therefore enough to dig about twenty centimeters to come across the first archaeological levels and all the substructures.
Merovingian tombs
The current restructuring project being quite light, researchers are not authorized to explore the entire historical layer, which is about 4 meters thick. Following the principle of preventive excavation, it will wait until, in the more distant future, other redevelopment projects threaten it… However, in certain places where water retention basins are going to be created, archaeologists have “could descend between 2.5 and 3.5 meters, explains Jean-Jacques Thévenard, and we found the remains of one of the streets from Roman times as well as Merovingian tombs”.
Most of the approximately one hundred and fifty burials already excavated are therefore much more recent and go, specifies the Inrap archaeologist, « du XIIIe century to the Revolution. The older medieval tombs, we only observe them occasionally”. In the west gallery of the cloister was unearthed a series of four funerary slabs of canons dating from the beginning of the 14th century.e century. “These are massive slabs of 700 kilos of Tournai stone, describes Jean-Jacques Thévenard. The engravings they carry represent the canons in their official clothes and one of these slabs has still preserved white and red pigments which made the engraving stand out. »
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