Gallic wall under the Hôtel-Dieu could provide information about Lutetia

A find from the Gaulish period could shed new light on the beginnings of Paris. Archaeologists have discovered a 20-meter-long wall made of stone and wood beneath the Hôtel-Dieu, a historic hospital on the Île de la Cité near Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The find dates from the Gaulish period and may have belonged to Lutetia, the Gallic settlement in what is now Paris, which Julius Caesar mentioned in his report on the conquest of the city in 52 BC.

France's Culture Minister Catherine Pégard spoke of a possible "significant breakthrough" for research into the origins of Paris. “We may be standing before one of the most important remains ever discovered for understanding Gaulish Lutetia,” she said in a press release.

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At the same time, she emphasized that the function and exact timing of the find still need to be checked. However, the evidence is currently “particularly remarkable”.

Where is the Gaulish Lutetia?

Until now, it was not clear where the Gallic Lutetia was located - and thus where the roots of what later became Paris could be found. The Gaulish Lutetia is best known from the writings of Julius Caesar. He described a settlement on an island in a loop of the Seine that was accessible by bridges. That could fit the Île de la Cité.

However, archaeological finds in Nanterre, west of Paris, had also suggested this area as a possible location for the Gaulish Lutetia. Now the new find could bring movement to the old mystery. Because the wall doesn't just fit into the picture geographically.

Traces of a fire were also discovered on the wall. Caesar reports that the Gauls themselves set fire to their fortifications before the Battle of Lutetia in 52 BC. A connection would be remarkable - but it has not been proven.

The first radiocarbon analyzes date the wall to between 200 and 10 BC. The findings are consistent with settlement at the end of the Iron Age and destruction by fire. However, it is not yet possible to date the fire precisely to the year 52 BC.