Monumentality & Alliance at Abbaye Sainte-Marie De Lagrasse (Aude, France)

Abstract

A geoscientific investigation was conducted of an enclosed spaced within the cloistered area of Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse (Aude, France) founded by Charlemagne in AD 779. The investigation was part of a multi-year Programme Collectif de Recherche centered on the monumental construction history of the Abbaye, its role in local-to-regional networks and the emergence of cities. Using ground penetrating radar, soil sampling and radiocarbon dating four chrono-stratigraphic units ranging between AD 1178-1429 were defined. The rates of sediment accumulation in the two central units far exceeded the background rate for the terminal Pleistocene through AD 1000 previously determined for southern France. Geophysical evidence further indicates structural walls forming rooms that were part of a single structure between 137-207 cm in depth related stratigraphically and chronologically to Carolingian remains at the Abbey. The corpus of results from the Programme Collectif de Research are used to discuss monastic monumentality and alliance activities between secular and spiritual elites as they transformed over time to resolve the role of Abbey Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse in the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages in Western Europe.

Keywords: geophysics, archaeology, Septimania, Visigoths, Franks