The scheduled excavations completed in 2014 on a small area of the suburban craftsmen’s district of « La Genetoye » at Autun yielded a set of coroplastic remains attesting the production of white clay figurines between the end of the 1st century and the middle of the 3rd century A.D. In this previously unknown potter’s workshop, the production of figurines is attested mainly by the discovery of a dump of bivalve moulds in the praefurnium of one of the kilns. Remarkably well preserved, these moulds, which feature chiefly Mother Goddesses, heighten the impression that the production was highly standardized, as the homogeneity of the products tended to suggest, notwithstanding the identification of at least four different craftsmen on the moulds and the figurines. The integration of this craftmen’s quarter within the monumental area of La Genetoye suggests the existence of a specific local production designed for the religious complex. The whole set, about 200 items, finally makes possible the development of a new approach to these kind of artefacts based on 3 D high resolution numerization, the first trials of which will be described here.

Traduction : Margaret & Jean-louis CADOUX