A prehistoric archaeology. – The excavations of the last decades have shown, for the oldest stone age in Belgica, the almost absence of tools of the Chellean, Acheulean and Solutrean types, while elements for the Mesvinian, the Mousterian and the Aurignacian were found in Omal, Lommel , Zonhoven, Zolder and Fond-Robert. From the Mesolithic, various facies were found in Wichelen, Overpelt and Campine. For the Neolithic age the finds, of the “Omalian” type, made in Hesbaye and Hainaut, in villages of hut bottoms, with pottery similar to Bandkeramik are noteworthy. of the German countries. The discoveries of pile-dwelling settlements, to which we alluded earlier, occurred in western Flanders: in Denterghem, in Roulers and in Afsné, and in Brabant in Briford and in Ottenbourgh, with persistence up to the Iron Age at Maline in Neckerspeel, and at Antwerp to Austruweel and Contich. The findings of the Bronze Age, made in recent times in Belgica, have been sporadic, especially in the Scheldt basin: a tomb was found in Appelt in Luxembourg. The finds from the Hallstatt age, made in Havré and Bovigny, are still unpublished; while those of La Hutte in Luxembourg belong to the La Tène phase. For the so-called Belgian-Celtic pottery, new discoveries were made in Tournai and Péronne-lez-Binche.
A Roman archaeology. – For the Roman period the excavations have, first of all, provided new finds to illustrate the road network and related works (bridges, resting places, taverns, forts, itinerant columns, etc.), especially for some of the seven roads that made head to Bagacum, the modern Bavaj. We are now better acquainted with via Mansuerisca, through the Hautes-Fagnes, with a bottom of stones on wooden boards, and those Arlon-Tongres, Nijmegen-Tongres, Reims-Colonia, Bavai-Trèves, BavajGand, with the relative diverticula. For Belgium 2014, please check thesciencetutor.org.
As for the cities, remains of the II-IV centuries were discovered in Tournai. C.: hypocausts, inscriptions, substructures, etc.; in Tongres, with systematic excavations from 1932 onwards, two enclosures of walls, one of which is larger than the century. I d. Cr., And the other smaller one of the late Empire, with towers and gateways, road pavements and tombs; in Namur, the ancient Namurcum, substructures and remains of the II-IV centuries, and a necropolis of the I; in Arlon (Orolaunus vicus), part of a wall of the century. IV, a Christian basilica of the IV-V, funerary monuments from I onwards, and inscriptions. But, while in southern Belgica, as we have already said, there were frequent municipalities, with their public buildings: spas, like in Linnebonne and Arlon, temples like in Beauvais and Daubourg, ares like in Charleville, theaters and amphitheaters like in Lillebonne, Senlis, Soissons, Beauvais, Amiens; vici: one in Vieux Virton, the ancient Vertunum, developed in the century. I, destroyed in the III, with treasures comprising about 13,000 coins; others in Neele, the “city of Nerves”; in Assche, with remains from the I-IV centuries; to the Monceau-sur-Sambre river fishing station. Itinerary stations have been studied, especially those of Catualium and Feresne, on the road from Nijmegen to Tongres, and fields of legions, while, from a series of backward forts, which the Boulogne-Colonia road served as a castle, it was possible to deduce that the limes was moved, in the face of the Germanic invasions of the century. III d. Cr. Numerous necropolises from the I-III centuries have been discovered in the south-eastern area, eg. in Haillot and Prunay; while new finds and studies were made for the mounds, in which the rich rural owners of the Hesbaye villae were buried, along the road from Bavaj to Tongres, mounds that perpetuate a local type, modernized in Roman times for the construction systems and ‘furniture.
New finds were added, in the area of present-day Belgium and Luxembourg, from these villas, often enriched with marbles, paintings, mosaics, stuccos, bathrooms, arcades, stables, workshops and cellars. The pottery of the Roman period, of the I-III centuries, was studied in depth, especially for the chronology of the various facies, on the basis of the new findings; for the type of sealed especially in Tongres, Assche, Charleroi, Elewyt and Mechelen; for the local workshops in Hambusart near Virton and in Thuisy. Traditional Belgian-Celtic pottery was found in Tournai and Péronnelez-Binche. A considerable amount was collected in Nijmegen.
Of the famous glassworks of Boulogne, Amiens, Reims, Vermand, Cologne, creating delicate patterns in millefiori, iridescent, engraved, etc. new discoveries were made: it was found that no less than 1500 copies, from 150 to 350, were made in Cologne, whence they spread as far as Ostia. New Roman sculptures were found in Tirlemont, from the time of Trajan and Hadrian; in Tongres a trifallic statuette of Mercury and fragments of fictile figures.
