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Oppidum du Mont Vully

Site Canton of Fribourg · District: Lac · Uninhabited site (municipality of Mont-Vully)
Part of the municipality of Mont-Vully
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Must-see historical sites Remains Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Oppidum du Mont Vully

The oppidum takes its name from Mont Vully, Wistenlacherberg in German, whose summit is called Plan Châtel. The Vully region appears as early as 968 as « in pago Wisliacense ».[1][6]

Founding of Oppidum du Mont Vully

At the end of the Iron Age the Helvetii, probably those of the pagus of the Tigurini, fortified the eastern part of Mont Vully, a 653 m hill overlooking Lake Murten and the end of Lake Neuchâtel. Around 124 BC they cut across the hill, west of the summit, with a straight rampart 600 m long, enclosing about 50 ha. The site was not a town in the strict sense, rather a stronghold or a meeting place, perhaps for the whole Three Lakes region. A coin die for silver quinarii bearing the legend KALETEDV underlines this political role.[1][3][4]

History of Oppidum du Mont Vully

Mesolithic and Neolithic. A few worked flints and two polished stone axes are left on the hill.[1]

Bronze Age. Middle Bronze Age remains lie at Plan Châtel. In the Late Bronze Age a first rampart blocks the western slope, and is later destroyed by fire.[1][2]

Hallstatt period. The hill is occupied again.[1][2]

Around 124 BC. Forest clearance, dated by dendrochronology, comes before the building of the great Helvetian rampart.[3][4]

Around 80 BC. A fire destroys the fortification, which is abandoned and never rebuilt (around 80-70 BC). This fire was long linked with the departure of the Helvetii led by Divico in the spring of 58 BC, an idea now given up.[1][2][3][4]

1st-2nd centuries AD. A limited occupation settles on the ruins of the rampart.[1]

1892-1893. A coin, probably a Sequanian potin, is found « on the Mont ».[2]

1959-1964. Hans Rudolf Rohrer and Hans Tschachtli dig test pits in 1959-1960, then Rudolf Degen excavates the first rampart in 1964.[2]

1977-1987. The Pro Vistiliaco association is founded on 30 April 1977, on the initiative of Olivier Reverdin, Hans-Georg Bandi and Hanni Schwab. From 1978 to 1987, excavations funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation explore the rampart and Plan Châtel, led by Hanni Schwab, then by Gilbert Kaenel with Philippe Curdy.[1][2]

1994-2000. Metal-detector surveys by Romano Agola yield some sixty Celtic coins.[2]

2001-2002. Michel Mauvilly carries out a further excavation. A section of about 15 m of the rampart is reconstructed and inaugurated on 11 May 2002.[2][4]

2004. The Archaeological Service of the State of Fribourg publishes the results of the research carried out from 1978 to 2003.[2][3][4]

Historic sites in Oppidum du Mont Vully

Reconstructed rampart. A section of about 15 m of the timber-laced rampart, with its dry-stone facing, was reconstructed in 2001-2002.[2][3][4]

Plan Châtel. The summit of Mont Vully, at 653 m, rises between the lakes of Neuchâtel, Murten and Biel.[1][4]

Remains in Oppidum du Mont Vully

Rampart of the oppidum. Rampart of the Pfostenschlitzmauer type, 600 m long and about 5 m high, west of Plan Châtel and 120 m lower down. Oak posts 3.5 m apart held a dry-stone facing, with a ramp 20 to 30 m deep behind it and a ditch in front. A later repair doubled the front. Cultural property of national importance.[1][3][4][5]

Gate and towers. An inturned gate flanked by two towers opened the rampart. One of the towers yielded pottery, glass beads, potin coins, brooches and tools that date the occupation to about 120 to 80 BC.[1][2]

Sur les Planches plateau. To the south, this plateau overlooking Lake Murten probably held the settlement. A south gate was excavated there in 1982.[1][2][4]

Sources

  1. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Vully, Mont » (Gilbert Kaenel), version du 04.10.2016
  2. Gilbert Kaenel, Philippe Curdy, Frédéric Carrard, « L'oppidum du Mont Vully. Un bilan des recherches 1978-2003 », Archéologie fribourgeoise 20, Service archéologique de l'État de Fribourg, 2004
  3. Inventaire PBC, fiche « Mont-Vully, oppidum helvète » (KGS 02361)
  4. Association Pro Vistiliaco, « L'oppidum »
  5. Office fédéral de la protection de la population, « Révision Inventaire PBC 2021 : liste cantonale, canton de FR » (état au 1.1.2026)
  6. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Vully » (Nicole Meystre-Schaeren), version du 05.01.2015

Other villages near Oppidum du Mont Vully

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