Site archéologique d'Oisseau-le-Petit

About

The archaeological site of Oisseau-le-Petit is located on the territory of the eponymous commune of Oisseau-le-Petit, in the department of Sarthe. The first excavations of the site, carried out around the middle of the 19th century, highlighted a Celto-Roman fanum in the hamlet of "Busses". The fanum of Oisseau-le-Petit is listed as a historical monument on January 13, 1987.

This sanctuary was probably used as a place of "war worship." Archaeologists have gained the certainty that this temple was founded at the end of the late late Latenian period ("The Tene D"). The sanctuary has a square-shaped cella with each wall measuring 3.90 metres. Later upon its discovery and excavations, the temple underwent a restoration aimed at reconstructing it in its original form.

Archaeological explorations, carried out between 1991 and 1997, allow the discovery of ruins buried around the temple. These other remains, including those of pedestrian lanes and small groups of domestic habitats, framed by ruins of public buildings, such as thermal baths and a theatre, suggest that the Sarthois site probably had, at the time...