BURGUNDY, FRANCE—Polish archaeologists are unearthing metal workshops at the site of a 2,000-year-old Celtic oppidum, or fortified settlement, in central France. Led by University of Rzeszów archaeologist Tomasz Bochnak, the team is working near the settlement's main gate, and has so far identified bronze-smith and enamelers' workshops, according to Science & Scholarship in Poland. "This year, we discover[ed] mainly traces of metallurgical operations, primarily slags, but also coins and fibulas, or pins," says Bochnak. "After two weeks of work we have also dug up close to 100 kg [220 lbs] of fragments of ancient amphorae. This number is likely to increase significantly before the study ends." The oppidum was a stronghold of a powerful Celtic tribe known as the Aedui, and was founded in the late third or early second century B.C. The settlement was abandoned not long after the Romans defeated a coalition of Celtic tribes in 52 B.C. To read about the excavation of a Celtic oppidum in Turkey, see ARCHAEOLOGY's "Celtic Sacrifice."
