Past excavations 1865 - 1973
The oldest document to identify Puy d’Issolud as Uxellodunum is a highly contested deed (potentially apocryphal) which dates back to the 10th century. By a charter of 935, King Raoul donated to the Abbey Saint-Martin of Tulle a mountain (podium) called Uxelloduno, situated in Quercy near Vayrac where, according to a six-word clause in the deed, formerly stood a town known to have been besieged by the Romans. This geographical situation corresponds to the present day Puy d’Issolud.
The history of the document began at around the end of the 16th century when, by a complicated route, it reached the historian Justel who detailed its contents in a book published in 1645.
In addition, three deeds of property dating from 941, 944 et 945 refer to an estate called Exeleduno, which cannot be anything other than the podium Uxelloduno, which was transferred to the monastery of Saint-Martin-de-Tulle.
Since the 18th century there have been endless quarrels over the real location of Uxellodunum, the site of the famous last insurrection of the Gauls against the forces of Julius Caesar. In the eighteenth century, the attribution of Uxellodunum to Puy-d'Issolud was consecrated by the judgment of the scholar of Anville. It was questioned in 1819 by Champollion-Figeac (brother of the famous Champollion, who deciphered the hieroglyphs) who, after visiting the various localities and carrying out excavations in Capdenac, supported the attribution of Uxellodunum to Capdenac.
From then on, the attribution of Uxellodunum to Capdenac became official in the world of scholars.
Napoléon III
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Having resolved to document the life of Julius Caesar and devote a part of his work to the Gallic Wars, in 1862 the Emperor Napoleon III charged a topography commission(56) to identify Uxellodunum. The commission first placed the oppidum at La Pistoule, Luzech, in a loop of the Lot.
This site would have been definitively adopted if Jean-Baptiste Cessac, native of Gourdon, and an inhabitant of Souillac, had not protested against the official decision by sending several letters to Napoleon III and publishing several brochures (1862-1865). To confirm his opinion, he carried out excavations at the fountain of Loulié from 27 May 1865. The discovery of a number of objects - iron catapult bolts and arrow heads, burnt stones and earth, as well as many fragments of charcoal - allowed Cessac to obtain funding to continue the work from the topography commission. Eventually on the 19th June 1865, at a depth of 5m, Cessac found a man-made tunnel. This discovery was sensational given that Caesar's Gallic Wars documents that Caesar had ordered tunnels to be constructed below the spring in order to capture the water and thus drive the Gauls to defeat. Napoleon III immediately sprang to Cessac's aid and despatched two officers, Colonel Stoffel and Captain de Reffye, with a platoon of engineers, who continued the search. These excavations were intended by Napoleon III to put a stop to the quarrels. |
The tunnel found by Cessac was uncovered over a length of 40m and the area around the spring was excavated. The workers collected arrowheads, catapult bolts, many large carpentry nails and other objects. Framing nails were also found at the presumed location of the agger (terrace built by Caesar). At nearby Pech-de-Mont, traces of countervallation and camps were discovered.
In 1866 and 1875, Etienne Castagné published the topography commission's report on the excavations at Puy d'Issolud, with plans for fortifications of the oppidum of Murcens, Puy d'Issolud and Impernal in Luzech. Following these results, Napoleon III, in his own work on the Gallic Wars, declared that the site of Uxellodunum was to be found at Puy d'Issolud.
After the fall of the Second Empire, the debates continued to rage in the literature of the day. Many fanciful articles flooded the newspapers and the learned publications, and the location of Uxellodunum was claimed by many different sites.
From 1913 until 1920 some work was carried out around the Loulié spring and on the plateau of Issolud by Antoine Cazes, a nursery school teacher from Martel. And from 1920 until 1941 Antoine Laurent-Bruzy, poet above all, undertook new excavations at the fountain at his own expense. His main aim was to find the various catchment galleries of the source that Hirtius' text seemed to indicate. After 15 years of research, he discovered a second gallery, named as Roman. His untimely death stopped his work. Laurent-Bruzy discovered many objects during these twenty years but no inventory or publication of findings was ever made.
In 1968 and again in 1971, Michel Lorblanchet undertook investigations at "les Templés", high up on Puy d'Issolud. He uncovered medieval walls and burials (Visigothic?). Already in 1860, Pierre-Marcelin Lachièze, a Martel lawyer, and in 1861 Jean-Baptiste Cessac, had found skeletons and wall foundations. The structures appeared to indicate the presence of the castle, revealed by the charter of King Raoul (58) attested in the ninth century.
In 1973, Georges Depeyrot uncovered a wall on the northern slope of Puy-d'Issolud. The type of construction of this wall, with the presence in the excavations of ceramic fragments, either from the Lower Roman Empire or the early Middle Ages, mixed with older fragments of the Iron Age, evokes a type of construction typical of a medieval fortification.
The purely literary polemics did not cease despite all that, and many totally crazy articles continued to flood scholarly societies and the press.
In 1973, Georges Depeyrot uncovered a wall on the northern slope of Puy-d'Issolud. The type of construction of this wall, with the presence in the excavations of ceramic fragments, either from the Lower Roman Empire or the early Middle Ages, mixed with older fragments of the Iron Age, evokes a type of construction typical of a medieval fortification.
The purely literary polemics did not cease despite all that, and many totally crazy articles continued to flood scholarly societies and the press.
Notes
56 - The Commission on the topography of Gaul, instituted by Napoleon III, delegated General Creuly and Alfred Jacobs to study especially the question of Uxellodunum.
57 - He spent his whole career as a traveling agent in the Lot department (from 1844 to 1873). In 1864 the prefect mandated him to provide the secretariat of the departmental commission for the Puy d'Issolud excavations. He was interested in archeology and is responsible for an investigation of the fortifications of Puy d'Issolud, Murcens and L'Impernal. On these last two sites, his work revealed in 1868 and 1872 vestiges characteristic of murus gallicus.
58 - Much disputed by some authors.
57 - He spent his whole career as a traveling agent in the Lot department (from 1844 to 1873). In 1864 the prefect mandated him to provide the secretariat of the departmental commission for the Puy d'Issolud excavations. He was interested in archeology and is responsible for an investigation of the fortifications of Puy d'Issolud, Murcens and L'Impernal. On these last two sites, his work revealed in 1868 and 1872 vestiges characteristic of murus gallicus.
58 - Much disputed by some authors.
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