Except for two graves ascribed to the Early La Tène period and showing the likely existence of a Gaulish cemetery on the West side of the area studied, the excavations at Ambleny “Le Soulier” yielded a dense amount of remains related to a dwelling ascribed to the 11th-13th centuries. The remains are mostly bottoms of huts, pits and silos; they are installed in a network of plots delimited by parallel and relatively equidistant ditches, following a structured framework. Even if the total surface excavated provides only a limited view, it gives a rare opportunity to investigate part of a hamlet or street-village with long narrow strip plots. As concerns this period indeed, except for a few notable cases, this kind of occupation, in Picardy as throughout the French territory, is still little known. Thus Ambleny “Le Soulier” significantly informs the issues concerning the expansion of occupation on lands whose exploitation develops rapidly between the 11th and the 13th centuries.

Traduction : Margaret & Jean-louis CADOUX