Mur d'Hannibal
| Field name | |
|---|---|
| Site: | none [from first object] |
| Coordinates: | The following coordinate was not recognized: none N, none E.The following coordinate was not recognized: none N, none E."none" is not a number."none" is not a number. [from first object] |
| Objects found here: | none |
Map
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Commentary
The site conventionally called Mur d'Hannibal (not connected to Hannibal in any way) is situated at 2650 m a.s.l. on a ridge on the eastern side of the Val d'Entremont, overlooking a large section of the valley which connects the Great St. Bernard pass to Martigny, and controlling the only passable high-altitude path on its eastern flank. It was excavated between 2006 and 2010, and again between 2014 and 2016. The site was occupied during the late La Tène and Roman periods (based on C14 datings), but possibly only for a short time. Its main feature is a bracket-shaped defensive dry stone wall of ca. 270 m length and up to 2.1 m height which, with a scarp face as fourth side, encloses a space of 3500 m² in which almost forty structures were identified; about fifty more structures are situated outside and above the wall. Among the sparse finds are a stone gaming board and Roman cleats, datable to the second half of the 1st century BC or early 1st century AD. The site appears to have functioned as a control and observation point and possibly refuge for the inhabitants of the valley; it is not clear whether it was originally an indigeneous fortification which changed hands from the local Veragri to the Romans at some point in the second half of the 1st century BC in the course of the Roman conquest of the valley, without violent conflict at the site, or whether the non-Roman finds merely indicate indigeneous auxiliaries in the Roman army. See Andenmatten & Paccolat 2012 (with numerous maps and illustrations) on the first excavation campaign, and Aberson et al. 2021: 310 f. with literature for results of the excavations after 2012.
