The excavations that unearthed the Moritasgus inscriptions took place at the site known as Croix Saint Charles. This on Mont Auxois in the French commune of Alise. Where is this and why is it important?
Alise is a French commune in the Cote D’Or region of the Bourgogne. It is the most likely spot for ancient Alesia – the site of a famous battle in 52BC between Julius Caesar and a confederacy of Gallic tribes led by the chieftain Vercingetorix. Caesar won and described the event his Commentarii de Bello Gallico.
The battle sealed Roman domination of Gaul, but for a long while it was not entirely clear where it had taken place.
The battle is commemorated in the book ‘Asterix and the Chieftain’s shield’, which also makes a running joke of the mystery of Alesia’s location:
Sadly it is now accepted that modern-day Alise correlates with Gallic Alesia.
Excavations have been in progress since at least the middle of the 18th century (e.g. http://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1861_num_5_1_66448) and continue to the present day (http://www.bienpublic.com/edition-haute-cote-d-or/2015/06/22/pour-mieux-connaitre-le-passe)
Modern-day Alise is at the eastern of Mont-Auxois, which is just over 400m high.
Most excavations take place closer to the centre of the hill. Many can be seen in a satellite image of the area. It is also notable that ‘Chemin de Fouillés’ which runs right across Mont Auxois translates to something like ‘path of the excavations’.
Croix Saint-Charles is towards the far east of Mont Auxois, although does not appear as a named item on maps.
Moritasgus 