Scientific Dep.

Available! HARTOCH E. (ED.), DOPERÉ F., DREESEN R., GLUHAK T., GOEMAERE E., MANTELEERS I., VAN CAMP L.  & WEFERS S. 2015, Moudre au Pays des Tungri, Atuatuca 7, Publications of the Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren, Tongeren. 416p. REPRINTED in 2016.

L'étude est principalement axée sur les meules rotatives antiques conservées dans les collections du Musée gallo-romain de Tongres et dont les pièces ont été mises au jour dans la province du Limbourg correspondant à la partie centrale de la cité des Tongres, la civitas Tungrorum. Ces collections ont été enrichies par les découvertes faites lors de plusieurs opérations d'archéologie urbaine préventive et programmée, effectuées à Tongeren durant les dernières décennies. Le corpus d'étude publié comprend plus de 80 meules limbourgoises (entières ou fracturées, majoritairement rotatives) reparties sur un grand intervalle chronologique qui s'échelonnant de l'Age du Fer jusqu'au Temps Modernes. De nouvelles methodes de recherche ainsi qu'une approche interdisciplinaire ont permis une étude approfondie de ce corpus de meules et ont conduit à de nouvelles perceptions quant à l'origine des matières premières, des voies de transport, les outils utilisés pour le façonnage et le r(habillage) des meules, les techniques de taille, l'habillage et le décor du corpus de meules analysé. L'ouvrage offre également un inventaire élaboré, une description complète des objets et la détermination des origines géographiques et géologiques des matériaux au moyen d'analyses pétrographiques et/ou géochimiques. Les résultats sont replacés dans le cadre général des habitudes alimentaires et agricoles du chef-lieu de la cité des Tungri et de ses régions avoisinantes.
Un glossaire quadrilingue en annexes rend cet ouvrage accessible aux non spécialistes ou aux allophones.

Since a few years a French-Belgian team of archeologists and geologists work on the characterization of ancient quern stones and millstones (mainly from the Antique period) linked with the identification of their stratigraphical and geographical provenances.
This fruitful collaboration aims at reconstructing the ancient commercial roads and economic organization of territories during that period.
In addition to the better-known volcanic rocks from the Eifel area, our study revealed the frequent occurrence of particular Devonian conglomerates and sandstones from the Ardenne area, as raw materials for the manufacturing of querns and millstones. The latter sandstones as well as the related antique millstone quarries, form an important and until now undervalued geological and cultural heritage in Belgium.

Near the Ardenne border between France and Belgium, the earliest Devonian (Lochkovian) sediments deposited on the Caledonian substrate are conglomerates, which are interpreted as continental alluvial fans. The first marine sediments are littoral sandstones/quartzites or shales/slates. A sandstone formation, formally defined as the “Arkose d’Haybes” is closely linked to the former Lochkovian conglomerates (called also the “Poudingue de Fépin”). The outcrops of this particular formation around the reference localities of Haybes, Fépin and Hargnies (Ardennes, France), show a partly recrystallized, well-sorted grey to greenish sandstone (turbidite facies) with wine-red coloured joints. Another important area displaying old quarries in the same formation is located between Hirson (Aisne, France) and Macquenoise (Hainaut, Belgium): here, a more homogenous grey coarse sandstone facies occurs, with a better consistency and small amounts of dark green tourmaline crystals.

The artisans who set up their workshop in the northeastern part of the civitas capital, before the city walls and the aquaduct were built there, are the first generation known of Gallo-Roman potters in Tongeren. This family activity begins after the Batavian revolt in AD 69/70 and lasts only
for one or two decades. The clays, tested with the technic of loops, show that the raw material were tempered with sand. It is very likely that the raw clay used by the potters is coming from the outcrops of the Henis Member (Borgloon Formation). To avoid evil spells the potters have resorted to a lamp with an apotropaic symbol. The production is varied, with the joint manufacturing of fine dishes, domestic and
culinary ceramics.

As a sequel to the first overview of millstone manufacturing in northern Gaul and Germany, (presented in Haifa in 2015; RENIERE et al. 2016)  the present study focuses on the area located between two major river basins (Seine and Rhine), allowing the transport of huge quantities of querns and millstones along their watersheds. In the central part of this area, (more precisely located north-west of the Ardennes hills), the Gallo-Roman territories of the Menapians, Atrebates, Nervians and partially those of the Tungri, were supplied with querns and millstones made of a coarse grey to beige sandstone, originating from lochkovian strata in the Ardennes massif. These essentially food transformation tools come from a production center located between Hirson (Aisne, France) and Macquenoise (Hainaut, Belgium), the activity of which was prodigious during the whole Roman period. The Macquenoise workshops are not linked to any navigable watercourse, but they are situated near a specific geological outcrop that was selected both for the quality of the rock and for its vicinity to the major road Bavay – Reims (France). Nevertheless, the distribution of the querns is clearly directed to the north and does not reach the big capital of Reims/Durocortorum before the Late Roman period (3rd century). This non-concentric picture allows us to approach the great principles of the distribution of a secondary millstone rock and in general of heavy lithic goods.