An ancient city was discovered during the construction of a residential building in France

In France, archaeologists found an ancient city during the construction of a residential building. This was reported by Popular Mechanics.

The city that archaeologists found under the new building was located on the Montbellan hill in the commune of Tonnerre, southeast of Paris. Excavations covering an area of ​​about 743 square meters revealed three cultural layers at once: a Gallic fortress of the 1st century BC, buildings of the Roman period and the Middle Ages.

Finds include numerous cellars and workshops, as well as a large medieval building with a stone staircase leading to the basement. Pottery and coins indicate that the settlement was quite densely populated even before the arrival of the Romans. “The location of several buildings on the steep slopes of the Montbellan hill indicates a dense and limited development,” Inrap noted.

The Romans rebuilt the area, sometimes erecting buildings directly on top of the ruins and sometimes densifying the development. Found metallurgical slags indicate the work of a metal processing workshop in the Roman era. Researchers hope that further excavations will fully reveal the structures and shed light on the history of the lost city of Tonnerre, from the Gallic Iron Age to the Middle Ages.