Documentary study has updated our archaeological knowledge of Nice, has improved our understanding of the development of the urban landscape since Prehistoric times and has enabled the initiation of an archival-based topographical study. On this basis, a programme of drilling twelve boreholes in the Saint-Barthelemy and the River Paillon valleys has been carried out. Complementary mechanical trenches in the Boulevard Jean-Jaurès zone, and in the section of the tramway bordering the Vieux Nice, have brought to light the remains of the fortification and the ancient bridge that crossed the River Paillon. The most important remains have emerged at the level of the staircase of the Rue du Pont-Vieux (remains of the old bridge) and between the Square Toja and the Place Garibaldi (remains of medieval and modern fortifications).

Because of the importance of these discoveries, the Prefect of the Region has published decrees authorising excavations at these two locations, to a total depth of 6 metres. These excavations are carried out by an Inrap team, under the control of Marc Bouiron, archaeologist of the Ville de Nice.

Even though in modern times the River Paillon has practically disappeared from the urban landscape, this river was, for many years, a source of anxiety for the Niçois. In fact its torrential regimen caused many overflows, sometimes violent, causing, down the centuries, the raising of the banks bordering the Town. From the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 19th century, the only bridge crossing the river was that of Saint-Antoine, also known as the Pont-Vieux.

Mentioned as early as 1250 in archival texts, the bridge over the Paillon was indicated as being stone built at the beginning of the following century. In the second half of the 13th century a suburb developed on the eastern bank of the river, proof that this zone at the bridge end was attractive. A hospital Saint-Antoine was built, giving its name to the suburb and then to the bridge. On the town side, access to the bridge was blocked by a fortified gate, closed and guarded during periods of instability. This gate was surmounted by a tower which can be seen on 16th and 17th century illustrations.

Important floods were noted during the 16th century; the bridge was destroyed in 1530 and 1565 and it's subsequent rebuilding is attested by inscriptions. Two arches were destroyed during the siege of Nice in 1543 by the French and the Turks. They were rebuilt in 1545. The elements discovered during the archaeological evaluation, as well as documents and ancient photographs show us that the piers were of medium stone masonry and arches made of bricks. It is probable that these parts of the bridge, restored, date from the 16th century.

The aim of the excavation will be to find the base of the bridge to date its first construction and to verify the presence of a previous wooden bridge. The excavations of the present staircase of the Rue du Pont-Vieux will provide the link between the bridge and the fortification and will perhaps bring elements to determine the origin of the surrounding wall of the lower town of Nice.

Of the three gates that controlled the entrance to Nice, the most important one was that to the north-west of the town, and the beginning of the road that led to Turin. Known as early as the beginning of the 14th century as the Saint-Augustine Gate (the name of a monastery situated just outside the town) then as the Pairolière Gate, this gate was indicated during the following century during different defensive works (digging of a ditch, building of a drawbridge … ). Outside the walls, religious buildings (monastery of Saint Augustine then the Chapel of Saint Sebastian) figure in archival texts. We know little of the lay-out of the gate during the Middle Ages, before the building of the Saint Sebastian bastion which strengthened the structure during the 16th century. Nevertheless, a detail in a painting by Louis Bréa in 1516 gives us an idea: a gate surmounted by a guardroom next to a circular tower; the whole bordered by a moat crossed by a drawbridge.

During the first half of the 16th century, progress in the use of artillery required the strengthening of the town's fortifications. The gate was then protected by a bastion which took its name from the nearby Chapel of Saint Sebastian. Visible on all the iconographic documents of the time, this fortified construction, in the shape of an ace of spades, encroached upon the River Paillon bed and dominated the recent Pairolière Gate. Catherine Ségurance defended Nice against the Franco-Turkish troops in 1543 from this bastion. Having probably suffered from the siege, the bastion must have been more or less partially reconstructed later.

We have no trace of repairs of this part of the enclosing wall before the end of the 17th century, when it was decided to dig a moat to defend the northern side of the town. A demi-lune, situated beyond the moat and protecting access to the Pairolière Gate, was the last fortified construction. In 1706, having captured Nice and its castle for the second time in less than twenty years, Louis XIV decided to dismantle completely the fortifications and the castle.

A new historical period of the site began. The demolition concerned, above all, the bastions. The difference in level between the town and the lower space, previously outside the walls, created a problem for more than half a century. From 1782 the project of the Place Royale (piazza Vittoria) was started and became the central link between the old town and the new harbour zone. The Place Garibaldi was thus created, after considerable works of level-raising and partial banking up of the Paillon riverbed.

The two excavations are of very different forms and dimensions: that of the Pont-Vieux is cross-shaped and covers approximately 230m2. The second excavation, 1,800m2 in area, is in the Boulevard Jean-Jaurès zone and broadens towards the north near the entrance to the Place Garibaldi.

For one, as for the other, a support is necessary to permit an excavation to a depth of 6 metres. Thus, for the Pont-Vieux, a wall known as "a soldier pile wall" will be built (metallic beams placed beforehand and metal cladding placed as the excavation progresses downwards). A group of firms (Cari, TP Spada and Presspali France) has been chosen to build these retaining walls and to implement the technical means for both excavations (earth-moving equipment and evacuation of earth … )

The Toja-Garibaldi excavation is important enough to justify special treatment. The nature of the archaeological remains ("monumental" fortifications particularly well conserved) and the necessity to minimize the duration of the excavation has led to the choice of the solution of a "box" limited by "moulded sides". After an open-air excavation of four months, the creation of a slab on the surface then the realisation of the platform of the tramway will allow the entering into service of the transport on its own site, while the archaeological interventions can continue below. Finally the remains thus conserved could be restored and exploited.

Nice is one of the first towns in France to integrate in advance, within the scope of preventive archaeology, the archaeological discoveries in situ in its urban planning.

Developers: CANCA/Ville de Nice
Curation and scientific control: Ministry of Culture, Regional service of Archaeology (DRAC Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur)
Archaeologists, site directors: Marc Bouiron (Ville de Nice), Frédéric Reynaud (Inrap)
Evaluations and archaeological evacuations: institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap)