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RESEARCH PRODUCT

CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE ARTICLE “DE BIBRACTE À AUGUSTODUNUM : OBSERVATIONS ARCHÉOASTRONOMIQUES”

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Were the towns of Bibracte and Augustodunum astronomically oriented? We study in this publication an article published in the Revue Archéologique de l'Est which puts forward the hypothesis that the Gallic town of Bibracte respects, in its main buildings, orientations corresponding to sunrise on the Romanized dates of the Celtic festivals and that the Roman city of Augustodunum is rather oriented, in its urban fabric, on sunrises at the solstice, like other Roman cities. Our study tends to invalidate these hypotheses, by re-examining the reliability of the measurements taken and the chronology of the constructions in relation to the establishment of the Julian calendar.