Vers-sur-Selle
An entrenchment discovered from the air has been excavated: some 15 soundings have been made of the single and double trenches which protected a rectangular area of 700 sq. m. A second trench ran outside the whole S side, attached to part of that side at a hairpin angle. On the E, an inner trench ran behind one shaped like a bayonet. The trenches were either flat-bottomed or V-shaped, and 0.9-1.5 m deep. The artifacts recovered consist primarily of kitchen pottery, both sigillata and plain, probably from the second half of the 1st c. A.D. Soundings in the central area have yielded no results, and it is uncertain whether or not this was a Roman camp; if so, it was erected at a time described by ancient sources as one of relative peace. Possibly, however, it was connected with the troubles which disturbed the N borders of Belgic Gaul at the time of Nero's death. An identical though smaller set of entrenchments has been found in the neighboring commune of Taisnil.
In the 18th c. a fine mosaic showing a woman's head surrounded by birds was discovered in the vicinity of the village. In the 1880s a Merovingian cemetery and numerous Gallo-Roman coins were found.
The artifacts are at the Musée de Picardie at Amiens.
BIBLIOGRAPHYR. Agache, “Archéologie aérienne de la Somme,” Bulletin de Société de Préhistoire du Nord 6 (1964) 511; F. Vasselle, “Compte rendu des découvertes archéologiques,” Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie (1966) 1 trim. 164-72.
P. LEMAN