Colmier-le-Bas
On the boundary between the departments of Haute-Maine and Côte d'Or, W of Langres, is the large Gallo-Roman villa known as Les Cloisets.
The excavated section includes a rectangular arrangement of rooms with a courtyard adjoining the E side. Surrounding the courtyard on three sides is a portico, with a floor of opus signinum and the rear wall still bears coats of paint. Several of the rooms had mosaic floors with geometric or figured designs; some of the mosaics have been removed and preserved. The middle rooms contain bath installations, small pools, and chambers with hypocausts below them. To the S are some working areas, now being excavated. Foundations have been found on the side of the courtyard facing the living quarters, in the SE corner, possibly of farm buildings. Traces independent of the villa have been located at several points. The imported terra sigillata (especially Lezoux) and the few coins found on the site suggest it was occupied in the 1st and 2d c. A.D.
Colmier-le-Haut, a few km away, has yielded several late sarcophagi and a stele with an inscription. Finds are housed at the Langres museum and in the excavatlon depot on the site.
BIBLIOGRAPHYA. Blanchet & G. Lafaye, Inventaire des mosaïques de la Gaule II (1909) nos. 1584-87; C. Auberive, Bull. Soc. Hist. & Arch. de Langres 13 (1964) 405ff; E. Frézouls, Gallia 25 (1967) 289fP; 27 (1969) 306ffPI; 29 (1971) 302fPI; 31 (1973) 416f; J. C. Didier & J. Harmand, Mémoires Soc. Hist. & Arch. Langres 10 (1969) I.
E. FRÉZOULS