ANCIENT EXCAVATIONS

Sporadic digs began taking place at the archaeological site of Les Bolards from the late 19th century on, by Antiquity enthusiasts and local scholars. Their main goal was to add to their private collections and to preserve the town’s heritage.

The Les Bolards mithraeum was first surveyed in 1938-1939 by Albert Vauthier and the brothers Paul and André Vacherot. The temple was really unearthed in December 1948 by the brothers and Louis Roux. At this point it was stripped of its finest contents. The excavation, carried out without any real method and focused solely on the search for precious objects, revealed a building containing opulent and impressive furnishings. The few notes and sketches from the period, which are quite summary, provide valuable information about the content of these discoveries. They include a list of the discoveries, as well as the approximate position where they were found.

The objects collected during the dig at the site were first scattered among private collections or sold to private collectors. It wasn’t until 1953 that the Archaeological Museum of Dijon bought the most important furnishings, encouraging those who had carried out the digs to donate items to the museum at Nuits-Saint-Georges.

In 1949, when it seemed there were no more interesting items in the temple, excavators backfilled the building with soil from the surrounding area.