Vertillum

Vertillum is a Gallo-Roman site in the modern commune of Vertault in the Côte-d'Or department of eastern France [1]. Vertillum was classified as a Historical Monument in 1875 [1]. It includes many buried structures, remains of ramparts, thermal baths and a temple [1]. A Gallic oppidum covering about 25 hectares originally occupied the site, surrounded by a stone wall and ditch [1]. Later it evolved into a Gallo-Roman settlement with the typical features of such cities: residential areas, a forum, baths, temple and administrative center [1]. The Roman town would have had between 3,000 and 5,000 inhabitants [1]. Vertillum was a center for working copper-based alloys [1]. Unfinished objects and waste material show that the smiths used foundry techniques to work sheet iron and to bronze the iron objects [1].