Marceline Denis

In Frameries (province of Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium), a plateau dominating the area has been used in modern times to establish military camps. This well-located place was occupied on several occasions, during the various sieges against the city of Mons, Hainaut’s most important town. Based on the 75 excavated remains, four functional categories of structures have been defined: a fireplace with or without an adjacent pit (ashpan-pit), semi-excavated shelters, large fires, and oblong trenches. Despite the strict and precise framework to establish a camp provided by military engineering treaties (cf. Skoupá, this volume), it is evident that once on site, the installation of troops does not necessarily reflect theoretical restraints. Remains discovered at Frameries, characterised by the lack of any apparent order and wide variability of shapes, tend to underline the individual appropriation of military instructions and their adaptation to real conditions. The ‘Belle-Vue’ site illustrates in detail the diversity of structures set by soldiers during a camp setting.
In order to contextualise and interpret the discovered remains and the objects found within them, the archaeological features are confronted with theoretical engineering treatises and available military sources and maps. This research leads to several unanswered questions and grey areas, but demonstrates the necessity to carry on with meticulous excavation of these rarely breath-taking structures, as they offer a wealth of information about the soldier’s daily life on the field.

In Wallonia (southern Belgium), research dealing with remains of early modern military camps is a relatively young discipline, only starting ten years ago, with the excavations in Bouges and Frameries. The dissemination of the archaeological results of those two sites has alerted researchers in the region, allowing – step by step – to correctly identify remains that were formerly misunderstood or leading to the reinterpretation of results from former excavations.
New preventive research quickly and unsurprisingly produced a large number of new occurrences: the Walloon territory has always been the theatre of conflicts, battles, sieges, and an unmissable and continual corridor for the passing troops. In addition to the camps of Bouge and Frameries, respectively linked to the sieges of Namur and Mons, more witnesses of military events have been identified in Wallonia: numerous camps attached to battlefields (Fontenoy, Waterloo, and Wavre), but also bivouacs of field armies in transit (Ghislenghien). This chapter provides an initial overview of discoveries about military quarters of the troops on the Walloon territory.

Le monde de Clovis. Itinéraires mérovingiens. Musée Royal de Mariemont. Catalogue des expositions : "Le monde de Clovis. Itinéraires mérovingiens"(Musée Royal de Mariemont 2021, Saint-Germain-en-Laye 2022), "Mons au Temps de Sainte Waudru. Itinéraires mérovingiens "(Arthothèque de Mons 2021), "Tournai, cité royale. Itinéraires mérovingiens" (Musée d'Archéologie de Tournai 2021)

A carpometacarpus recovered during archaeological excavations in the town of Quaregnon is the westernmost find ever reported in Europe of a Ural Owl (Strix uralensis), and the first occurrence for Belgium. Both the morphology of the skeletal element and its measurements rule out an identification as any of the other Strigiformes from the Western Palearctic. The provenance of this specimen, that dates to the medieval period (10th-12th centuries AD), is discussed. It is hypothesized that the bird was a wild animal, but the available evidence does not unequivocally determine whether it belonged to a local, breeding population that went extinct or if it came from a more distant population. However, a survey of other zooarchaeological finds of Ural Owl in Europe shows that the species occurred farther west in the past, outside the present natural breeding range. This suggests that Ural Owl may have found suitable nesting biotopes in Belgium and northern France during the medieval period.

A carpometacarpus recovered during archaeological excavations in the town of Quaregnon is the westernmost find ever reported in Europe of a Ural Owl (Strix uralensis), and the first occurrence for Belgium. Both the morphology of the skeletal element and its measurements rule out an identification as any of the other Strigiformes from the Western Palearctic. The provenance of this specimen, that dates to the medieval period (10th-12th centuries AD), is discussed. It is hypothesized that the bird was a wild animal, but the available evidence does not unequivocally determine whether it belonged to a local, breeding population that went extinct or if it came from a more distant population. However, a survey of other zooarchaeological finds of Ural Owl in Europe shows that the species occurred farther west in the past, outside the present natural breeding range. This suggests that Ural Owl may have found suitable nesting biotopes in Belgium and northern France during the medieval period.

Sous vos pieds !
10 années de découvertes archéologiques à Mons

Dans la perspective de Mons 2015, capitale européenne de la Culture, de grands aménagements urbanistiques ont rythmé la vie des Montois ces dernières années. Réhabilitations, réaffectations, démolitions, constructions : la ville en sort aujourd’hui complètement métamorphosée ! Autant d’opportunités que les archéologues du Service public de Wallonie ont saisies pour appréhender les fondements de la ville.

Il résulte de ces fouilles, principalement préventives, une quantité et une variété insoupçonnée de matériel archéologique : céramique, verrerie, chaussures, fresques, portes, etc. Conçue en 5 thèmes, l’exposition vous offre au travers des vestiges trouvés « sous vos pieds » une meilleure compréhension du développement de la ville et une immersion fascinante dans la vie quotidienne des Montois au fil des siècles.  Plongez dans l’aventure souterraine ! Le sous-sol montois vous réserve bien des surprises!

En marge de l’exposition, entrez dans la peau d’un archéologue. Jamais seul sur le terrain, il coordonne une équipe de techniciens de fouilles et s’entoure d’autres spécialistes pour répondre à des questions spécifiques. Découvrez toutes les facettes des métiers de l’archéologie dans un espace didactique conçu pour petits et grands !

Quand ?
Du  18/06/2016 à 14:00 
au  21/08/2016 à 20:00 

Où?
Salle Saint-Georges
Grand-Place
7000 Mons

Mardi > vendredi : 10h > 16h. Le weekend : 14h > 20h.

Un évènement Ville de Mons - Pôle muséal de la ville de Mons - Service public de Wallonie, Direction du Hainaut, Service de l'archéologie

La fouille archéologique d'un campement militaire : table ronde, SOLVA, 2019

Le 27 juin 2019 Solva en collaboration avec l’université de Gand et la Direction Régional du Patrimoine en Flandre ont organisé une table ronde entre différents spécialistes, autour du sujet des campements militaires du XVIIeme et XVIIIeme siècle.