Sainte Nitasse
The name is a corruption of Saint Anastase. The site lies 2 km SE of Auxerre close by a spring. In 1966 salvaging work was done on villa rustica, since destroyed in the making of a sand-pit. The main part of the building was 80 x 100 m and was ringed with courtyards and a garden. Inside, it was divided into irregularly shaped rooms; wings were built onto its E facade. The plan of the building, and the objects found on the site, prove that the house was altered from the 2d to the 4th c., when it was finally abandoned. The ruins, the main elements of which had been recovered since antiquity, still served as a place of worship for the Merovingians.
Traces of a prehistoric dwelling were also discovered in the deepest strata: hearths, rough pottery, a disc bracelet of hard gray stone, and some Gallic coins.
BIBLIOGRAPHYP. Richard, “Sainte Nitasse, Enigmatique appellation d'un ‘climat’ du territoire de la ville d'Auxerre,” Echo d'Auxerre, no. 73 (Jan-Feb. 1968) 31-33; J.-B. Devauges, “Notes sur les fragments de sculpture lapidaire d'époque gallo-romaine trouvés à Sainte Nitasse,” Echo d'Auxerre, no. 74 (Mar-Aug. 1968) 3-4. R. Martin, “Informations arch.,” Gallia, 26.2 (1968) 506-8P.
J.-B. DEVAUGES