Ancient Roman Statues of Goddess Venus And Other Precious Artifacts Found In A Trash Pit In France

Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - Archaeologists excavating in Rennes, France, have discovered many objects up to 1,800 years old. Among these precious ancient items are statuettes of the goddess Venus, pottery, coins, clothing pins, shards of glass, crockery, and other terracotta statuettes.

A scientist excavates a first-century A.D. potter's kiln in Rennes, France.Credit: Emmanuelle Collado, INRAP.

The French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) announced that the discovery was made in a Roman shale quarry and later repurposed into a trash pit in Condate, now the city of Rennes.

Located in northwestern France, the city was founded as Condate in the 1st century and had been the main settlement of the Gallic Riedones tribe.

According to INRAP, tens of kilos of ancient objects were unearthed on a site that reaches 6.5 feet in depth.

A Venus statuette was found during an excavation in Rennes, northwest France. Credit: Emmanuelle Collado, INRAP.

The research team explained the Venus statuette is composed of Burgundy clay and dates from the end of the 1st century or the beginning of the 2nd century, as suggested by the styling of Venus’s hair. There was a fragment of another Venus found onsite, and experts speculate they might have been intentionally placed at the site's base to bring good fortune.

Small objects found onsite including coins, a metal clasp and a glass fragment. Credit: Emmanuelle Collado, INRAP.

“We regularly find this kind of statuette during excavations, but they are rarely as well-preserved and as special as this one,” the site’s manager Nicolas Ménez, told the French newspaper Figaro. “We haven’t cleaned it yet and we want to preserve any traces of pigments. We’re still at the beginning of the story about this Venus.”

A fragment of a Venus statuette. Credit: Emmanuelle Collado, INRAP.

As reported by the Art News, "the Romans required vast quantities of stone to build houses, public buildings, and walls which led to the development of quarries across the territories they exerted influence over. The majority of the rock quarried from the site was schist, which was used in local foundations as a mortar. When usable stone at the Condate quarry had been used up at the end of the 2nd century, it became a trash dump.

A vase fragment from the site in modern-day Rennes. Credit: Emmanuelle Collado, INRAP.

Archeologists believe the quarry and later trash dump was even larger than the current site and runs beneath what is today a nearby primary school."

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The INRAP scientists explain that during the 2nd century, the quarry was abandoned. It is then used as a dumping ground for the inhabitants of the district, who come to reject many objects of daily life there. At the end of the Medieval period, the site was re-occupied and craft and/or domestic activities developed there, as evidenced by the discovery, along a rough circulation axis, of the remains of wooden buildings (in the form of post holes), ovens and particularly well-preserved wells.

There are probably many more ancient objects awaiting discovery at this archaeological important site.

Written by Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com Staff Writer