The Archaeology Museum in Saintes is located near the Arch of Germanicus and behind the Tourist Office. It is small but worth a visit.
But before I get into my review, I’ll relate what I learned about the mysterious stone cairns I saw on my walk to the Roman amphitheater. I showed my photo to the docents, one of whom had a colleague who was one of the conservators at the amphitheater. The three of us communicate via photos and smartphone translator tools, and I learn that the cairns are temporary homes for widow frogs that are being displaced by the restoration work at the amphitheater. She also showed me a photo of a blue butterfly they are working to restore habitat for, that I believe might be an Adonis. She explained that the cairns are fenced in to prevent people from disturbing them, and that the frogs will be released back into the environment once the work on the amphitheater is complete.
Always ask the questions, even if you have to work with phone apps and pantomime!
Back to the museum…
The first docent I met immediately tagged me as “Anglais” by how I pronounced “bonjour,” and directed me to an interactive video monitor that has an English introduction. The video monitor gives a brief overview of the founding of Mediolanum during the reign of Augustus Caesar (27 BC-14 AD), when it was the first capital of Aquitania, the Roman province that stretched from the Pyrenees mountains to the Loire River. It showed maps of the town’s shrinkage between the 2nd and 6th centuries when the power base shifted to Burdigala (Bordeaux). Christianity started to take hold during the 6th century with the building of Saint-Pierre Cathedral and another that would be the eventual site of the Abbaye aux Dames.
There were mosaic fragments in patterns I had never seen, and one that was made from shells. I noted that one of the diamond shaped tiles was chiseled away on the back like the ones I saw in Morocco. It allows the tiles to butt up against each other with a minimal caulk lines on the surface.
There were tools, and keys, and a joint from an iron pipe that carried water from one of three city aqueducts to the city's fountains and baths.
There were cooking vessels, a clay colander, and other vessels in terracotta, sometimes displayed with things I wouldn’t expect to see in this setting, like seeds and plum pits (which looked more like peach pits to me).
There were amphora used to transport wine, oil and fish sauces. The oldest amphora in Saintes dates to the 1st century BC when the Gauls imported wine from Italy. After the Gallic Wars disrupted trade, wine was brought in from Spain, and local production began. Amphora disappeared by the 3rd century in favor of oak barrels. (Learn more about French cooperage in this video.)
And because I’m a sucker for Roman glass (pictured at top), here’s my favorites. By this point in my trip I had discovered that if I held my straw hat up to the glass right behind my camera, it blocked much of the glare and gave me a clearer photo.
I think I spent less than an hour here, but it was worth every minute, especially in finding out the purpose of the stone cairns, and watching the faces of the docents turn red as their Google searches for widow frogs brought up photos ‘not on the topic they were looking for…” Some things are universal!
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Heather Daveno hails from Seattle, Washington, where she works as an office manager by day and a self taught textile artisan by night. In her spare time she is a “hobby historian” and is currently researching the female side of her family history for a book she plans to write, titled: “The Matriarch Diaries.”
You can see her current textile projects at August Phoenix Mercantile and her travels at Daveno Travels.