“It’s moving”: “exceptional” discovery of a Gallo-Roman mausoleum in the Rhône

For the experienced archaeologists supervising this training project at the Gallo-Roman Museum of Saint-Romain-en-Gal, in the Rhône department, this discovery in the middle of summer was also "a very big surprise, very moving." The mausoleum probably dates from the beginning of the Roman Empire, between the end of the ^1st century BC and the very first centuries of the Christian era.

Even if we can only make out the rounded contours of the upper part for the moment, it is "exceptional in its size" for Gaul, with an internal diameter estimated at 15 meters, and in "its state of preservation", summarizes Giulia Ciucci, doctor of archaeology and head of the site.

According to her, no one expected to find such a prestigious burial site, usually reserved for the elite of Rome, in the heart of what is one of the largest urban complexes of Gallo-Roman civilization unearthed in France: seven hectares of remains of a residential, commercial and artisanal district of ancient Vienne, open to the public.

Since the end of the ^19th century, excavations at Saint-Romain-en-Gal have revealed this wealthy and aristocratic district of Vienna, the Latin name for this city that became a colony of the Roman Empire in 47 BC, five years after the defeat of Vercingetorix at Alesia, marking the end of Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul. After more than ten years of suspended excavations, around fifteen archaeology students have been working there in shifts since 2024. Their professors were looking for the remains of a mosaic from a domus (house) discovered in 1890. Instead, they uncovered the top of this mausoleum, which they believe is about six meters high.

This gives an idea of ​​the importance of its owner. "The building must have dominated the entire landscape, seen from afar because the dead, in the Roman world, were supposed to still be in the world of the living and must mark their presence there," explains Giulia Ciucci. Barely two meters of the building have been excavated, and only in places. Everything remains to be done by digging, but these excavations will be suspended at the end of August and resume in the summer of 2026.

"This type of mausoleum has been identified in France to date, but very few are visible."

The archaeologists and their students, who are currently painstakingly cutting away small pieces of amalgamated earth from the remains with fine trowels, small shovels, and even a household vacuum cleaner, are champing at the bit. One goal: to excavate the burial chamber, discover writings, and learn the identity of whoever may be lying there. "Most burial chambers in France or Italy have been looted since Antiquity, but you never know..." hopes Giulia Ciucci.

The architecture of this tomb, "very similar to that of the mausoleum in Rome of Augustus" , the first Roman emperor (27 BC - 14 AD), speaks volumes about "the importance of its owner and makes this discovery exceptional", Giulia Ciucci and Émilie Alonso, the museum's director, agree.

This is certainly an illustrious figure from Vienna and probably very much in the court of Augustus' Rome, believes Giulia Ciucci. Because by installing his most worthy legionaries there, her great-uncle Caesar had already made it the city of an early Romanized Gallic elite. "This type of mausoleum has been identified in France so far, but very few are visible" because they were covered by more recent constructions, or not as well preserved.