Location Map

Rama is located towards the top centre of this map. 

This second stage of a landscape archaeology project in the Southern French Alps was designed to assess the nature and depth of the archaeological remains of a major site Roman site called Rama. The first stage, in 2005, comprised a geophysical survey thus allowing us to locate the site and make a decision where to place our trial trench.
The 2006 fieldwork assessed the relationship of the site with the Durance River and the Byasse torrent and evidence for ancient flooding on the site. Below is an image of the initial opening up of the trial trench - view looking north up the Durance Valley

Starting the excavation of the trench 

Cleaning up the section after the mechanical digger has left 

A spring about 500m to south of the site 

Exposed sedimentary units in a natural section of the Durance River 

Where the Byasse (centre-left) meets the Durance (about 400m to the north east of the site at Rama)

 

The context for the trial trench at Rama - the Durance River is to the top of this image - we are looking towards the northeast along the Durance Valley 

View of the trench looking towards the Durance River 

Remains of a probable basin - hydraulic cement covers the inner edge of the room in this image 

The excavation trench

The flood deposits (coming from an inactive branch of the Byasse river) are towards the bottom end of the trench. The Durance River is some 400m further away from the top edge of the trench. 

The excavation trench

An overview of the excavation trench - the main archaeological remains occur in the central area.

 

Note the really interesting flood deposits in the section (top-centre of the photograph) 

The main area under excavation 

The main trial excavation area. 

Detail of wall with Roman tile. 

Coarse river deposits abutting the Roman walls 

Coarse bed deposits overlain by finer flood sediments. 

Flood Deposits

Detail of different river channel and flood deposits: coarse riverbed material down in the bottom, centre-left of the image.

Roman Walls

Detail of a Roman wall where pottery dating to the Late Roman Period was found. 

Geoarchaeological sampling

Sampling flood deposits that now overlie the Roman site 

Roman walls under 1.5m of floodplain deposits 

Backfilling the trench