Pile (monument)

A pile, also known as a Roman pile, Gallo-Roman pile, or funerary pile, is a specific type of funerary monument in the archaeological vocabulary of France: elevated towers, typically square or rectangular in plan, with circular forms being less common. Their primary function was to serve as funerary structures within Roman Gaul.

Constructed between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, piles are found across a wide area of south-western Gaul, with a high concentration in the ''civitas'' of , around the present-day city of Auch, where they often bear a local name, such as ''tourasse'' or ''tourraque'', derived from the Occitan word for "tower".

In the absence of in-depth site excavations, their function has long remained an enigma, but it is highly probable that they were funerary monuments dedicated to the memory of a local notable. Although they are not true mausoleums, since almost none have a burial chamber, they indicate the proximity of the burial itself, very often in an enclosure at the foot of the pile. Their ostentation also serves to demonstrate the wealth and power of the family of their patron, whose villa is frequently nearby.

Fourteen piles are protected as French historic monuments.

Monuments with a similar function also exist in other parts of the Roman Empire: Italy, where they may have originated, Hispania and Proconsular Africa. However, their morphology is often slightly different, and they are not called ''pile'' in the languages of the countries concerned.

Terminology

The term ''pile'', has come to be used in everyday French for any kind of massive construction resembling a pillar made up of superimposed structures, as noted by Camille Jullian in 1896. In Guyenne and Languedoc, the word ''tourrasse'' and, in Gascony, ''tourraque'', are augmentations of the Occitan noun ''tour''. The name ''peyrelongue'' (long stone), usually given to megaliths, is found in several places, with the forms ''pirelongue'' or ''pirelonge'' (Pirelonge tower in Saint-Romain-de-Benet, near Royan). In Saintonge, the noun ''fanal'', which at first glance might suggest a signal tower, is in fact an evolution of the term ''fanum'' (temple). The toponym "Montjoie", often used to designate the site of a military memorial erected at a crossroads, is sometimes associated with a pile (the Gallo-Roman pile at Montjoie in Roquebrune, Gers). The pile d'Authon-Ébéon is sometimes called a "pyramid", a noun not systematically reserved for monuments with a geometrically pyramidal shape. In 1814, Alexandre Du Mège described the Lestelle pile, in Beauchalot, as an ''obelisk'' by analogy of form, without linking it to Egyptian culture, as he believed it was dedicated to Mercury.

Outside France, the more generic term ''mausoleum'' or ''mausoleum-tower'' is most often used, either because the monument's funerary character has remained evident through its good preservation, or because other functions have been attributed to it: milestone, commemorative monument, etc., which would have protected it from vandalism. An ancient '' mausolée'', in the strict sense of the French term, is a "grandiose funerary monument ..destined to receive the remains of a powerful person ..; this is not true for piles, the vast majority of which are not designed to serve as burial sites, and are more akin to a cenotaph.

Historiography and characteristics

In 1898, Philippe Lauzun published his first inventory of piles in south-western France; he included all tower-shaped monuments, whatever their plan, whether or not they had niches or a burial chamber, and did not always conclude on their function, which was often unknown at the time.

Eight decades later, Pierre Audin undertook a study of the Cinq-Mars pile, but broadened the scope of his publication to include all turriform funerary monuments, in France and abroad, also considered "piles".

In the introduction to the book she published in 2016, devoted to the study of south-western piles, Pascale Clauss-Balty gives a much more restrictive definition of the ''pile'', already outlined in 1993 by Pierre Sillières and Georges Soukiassian and based on the type most frequently encountered in south-western France. A ''pile'' is a massive, tower-shaped monument, square or rectangular in plan, with a niche in its upper part, originally housing a statue; this definition excludes monuments such as the Cinq-Mars pile or the Tour de Pirelonge (no niche), the Tourasse d'Aiguillon (circular plan) or the Tour de Mézolieux (hollow monument with a funerary chamber).

Generalities and layout

The typical pile plan is therefore that of a solid tower – excavations carried out during clandestine digs or by "treasure seekers" in the 19th century never revealed the slightest interior cavity – quadrangular in shape, generally breaking down into several structures whose plan dimensions become smaller as they rise. In practice, pile plans sometimes deviate from this pattern, but the differences seem to be regional; a certain homogeneity in construction is discernible within the same geographical area. La Tourasse in Aiguillon (Lot-et-Garonne