The only known pictograph of the Gaelic god Suscelus has been discovered in a Gallo-Roman sanctuary near Torrance, Burgundy. The shelter was in continuous use from the late Iron Age to the 4th century.
The mansi site is located on a high ground overlooking the area. A geophysical survey in 2020 found six large stone mounds that were part of a religious complex rather than a cemetery or settlement. After test excavations proved fruitful in 2023, a three-year excavation program focused on the two largest mounds, known as M3 and M5. About 20,000 specimens have been documented since 2023.
The smaller of the two mounds, M3, is a rectangular building with one opening into a sacred hall. It was captured in four phases.
Phase 1: Early occupation of Room 1, 287-289 AD to 324-325 AD
Phase 2: Construction of Room 2 and raising of the floor in Room 1, 324-325 AD to 367 AD
Phase 3: Room 1, high floor in ca. 367
Phase 4: After 367 AD, the destruction of the sacred hall and the end of rituals
The 2025 excavation reached the earliest stage of construction. They excavated a hoard of 17 coins from this time, including an aureus struck by Tetrix I (271 – 274 AD), the last emperor of the short-lived Romano-Gallic Empire, who was responsible for defending Gaul from Germanic invasions when control of the central Roman Empire was consolidated between 260 and 274 AD, and is believed to have been struck between 274 AD and one were established together with others. Money collected to bless the new temple.
A few remains of this first period of temple construction have been unearthed. The second phase is much better preserved, especially the floor level with an exceptional state of preservation as it was surrounded by a raised floor and fill phase 3. It was filled with remains of animals and objects from ritual deposits. The remains of over 10,000 different animal species have been found, including suckling pigs, chickens, songbirds, pike and terns. Archaeologists believe that ceremonial banquets took place on this floor, and the remains of feasts and offerings were deliberately left in place, never cleaned and allowed to accumulate over time. Artifacts found on the floor include ceramic beakers, bone pins, jewelry and coins, high-quality items that suggest the site may have been used exclusively by the local elite.
The temple was abandoned shortly after Phase 3.
Phase 4 corresponds to the abandoned layer of the monument, particularly outstanding for both its composition and the quality of the artifacts discovered. This yielded an unusual hoard of stone liturgical implements, including two sculptured pedestals, a large table, a rimmed tabular altar, and a possible masonry altar (80 × 40 cm) covered with painted plaster. One of its faces depicts the Gaulish god Suscelus. Based on current knowledge, this appears to be the only known painted representation of this deity.
The stratigraphy shows that the tile roof was largely removed after the initial looting of the sacred hall. The pedestals of the two statues were then re-erected on top of the rubble, roughly in the center of the sacred hall, and a hearth was then built at the foot of one of them, directly on the first level of the fall. […]
Numerous animal remains, fragments of ceramic and glass goblets and a significant number of coins were found around the hearth. The range of patterns observed appears to be very similar to that documented for Phase 2. This continuity suggests that the actions performed in the temple ruins were part of a pre-existing ritual tradition. This gathering probably evokes a final ritual feast celebrated in the ruins of the monument, symbolically contributing to its condemnation around 370 AD.
Finally, in front of the podium, a pit excavated on the first collapsed surface yielded a remarkable hoard of about ten coins, a particularly unusual cult lamp, and ten white figurines of mother goddesses from the Auten workshop of choroplast pistils (a century older than the pit). Thus this storage of condemnation is one of the last cultural acts performed in the harem.
By the end of the 4th century, coins were still being thrown into the remains of the ruined temple.
