Toulouse. How the construction of the 3rd metro line will unearth two ancient necropolises
By Lucie Fraisse
Published on
This is the project that will change Toulouse : at the end of 2022, the work of the third metro line will really begin, after several months of preparatory work. Eventually, the line will connect Colomiers and Labège via 21 stations and a diagonal of 27 kilometers.
Primer from the site to archaeologists
But before the public works companies intervened, it was another trade that worked on the route of this future third line of the Toulouse metro: archaeologists.
“As of 2019, we have been consulted by Tisseo, Bas explainstien Lefebvre, curator of heritage at the regional archeology service at the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs Occitanie. They assume knowledge of the preventive archeology measures likely to be implemented on the third line site. »
In order not to destroy potential vestiges, since 2001, the law provides for the visit of archaeologists prior to development sites, in order to carry out a diagnosis, and, if necessary, excavations.
This diagnosis, carried out by an archaeologist from Toulouse Métropole, is carried out on 18 sectors identified by the regional archeology service along the third line.
“To make these diagnoses, we use mechanical shovels to dig trenches: 10% of the total surface of each site is explored. Then, we peel the soil, layer by layer. If we find remains, we clear them main before making photos, drawings, 3D representations…
Excavations at two sites identified along the route
Several diagnoses have already been carried out, the whole should be carried out by the beginning of 2023. And we already know that two sites are the subject of preventive excavations: Francois-Verdier and Saint-Aubin.
“On the site of François-Verdier and the war memorial, we already knew that we were going to find things in the basement, explains Bastien Lefebvre. There have already been development operations nearby, particularly for line B, and we know that there is a strong archaeological potential. »
Two ancient necropolises
The places are indeed located outside and in the immediate vicinity of the monumental enclosure of Toulouse the Roman, near a city gate. Archaeologists thus know that an ancient necropolis and a moat of the medieval city are on the site. Excavations will therefore be prescribed at this location.
To pay Saint-Aubin, where a ventilation shaft must be integrated, it is the diagnosis attributed to the archaeological cell of Toulouse metropolis which made it possible to confirm that excavations were necessary. Two soundings carried out on the spot brought to light funerary vestiges belonging to a necropolis which extended there at the end of Antiquity. “It was expected, we knew there was a necropolis there,” says Bastien Lefebvre.
Funerary urns, skeletons…
Funeral urns at Francois Verdierskeletons to Saint-Aubin… When the excavation operations have been carried out, the remains that will have been observed by the archaeologists will make it possible to assess the scientific knowledge.
“There are many things to discover, the interest of these excavations is both heritage and scientific. We will be able to learn more about the daily life, the food, the migrations of the peoples who lived there in antiquity. “
Excavations integrated into the Tisséo calendar
Hence the importance of giving archaeologists time to do their job. These excavation operations are therefore integrated into the Tisséo work schedule.
“It’s totally anticipated and lined up, reassures Gilles Habasque, director at Tisséo Ingénierie. When we have received the final report on the diagnoses, we will launch the calls for tenders for the places where the excavations will have to be carried out. In François-Verdier, we think that they could start around the end of 2022-beginning of 2023 and last several months. In short, in these places, it is the archaeologists who will begin the construction of the third metro line! »
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