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Origin and history

The Brizgyberg is a major Celtic site of the Iron Age, located on a hill of 390 m above sea level in Illfurth (High Rhine), Alsace. This strategic place, occupied from Neolithic as a simple passage, becomes between 650 and 630 B.C. an aristocratic fortress controlling the exchanges between the north and south of Gaul. The excavations revealed remains of stone ramparts lined with ditches, as well as imported luxury objects (phocean amphorae, attic ceramics with black figures, fibula inlaid with coral), proving its status as a princely site linked to a powerful local elite. The geographical position, at the confluence of Ill and Largue and near the Belfort hole, made it a key military and commercial hub.

Around the beginning of the fifth century BC, the site was remodeled: the rampart was reinforced on the southern and northern sides of the rocky spur, serving both as a defence and as an ostentatious symbol for the aristocracy. At the time, L-oppidum housed a centre of artisanal production (metallurgy, pottery) and intense pastoral activity in its surroundings. An artisanal suburbs, identified in 2005 at the foot of the hill on the Illfurth side, confirms its economic role. However, the fortress was destroyed by fire around 430 B.C. and finally abandoned, falling into oblivion until the 19th century.

Rediscovered around 1850, the rampart was wrongly attributed to a Roman camp, due to currencies found nearby. In 1904, archaeologist Karl Gutmann discovered two tanks, a defensive ditch and a cabin bottom, proving his Celtic origin. The first modern excavations began in 1970 under the direction of Roger Schweizer, followed by those of Anne-Marie Adam (University of Strasbourg) from 2006. The site, which has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1989 (as amended in 1995), has delivered ceramics to the Mulhouse Historical Museum since 2011. Its toponym, Britzgyberg ("Montagne de Brice"), could derive from the Gallois brig- (fortified hill) or Saint Brice de Tours, honored by a chapel since 1598.

The site presents itself as a 5 hectare trapezoidal barred spur, protected by ramparts and ditches, occupying the southwest end of the hill. The current vegetation (hetray and oak) partially masks the remains, including an imposing slope, vestige of the Celtic rampart. Archaeological discoveries (tools, pottery, Mediterranean objects) illustrate the distant exchange networks of the local elite, while metallurgy and pottery attest to organized artisanal production. The abandonment of the site coincides with poorly known regional upheavals, but his study sheds light on the power structures and economy of the Alsatian Protohistory.

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