2,000-year-old rampart discovery could rewrite origins of Paris

A 20-metre-long rampart dating back more than 2,000 years has been uncovered in the heart of the French capital and could, for the first time, provide evidence of the city’s Gallic origins.

Discovered in July beneath the Hotel-Dieu, the stone-and-timber wall unveiled to the press on Wednesday could be the remains of a stronghold, suggesting that Gallic Lutetia, before its conquest in 52 BC by Julius Caesar’s troops, was located on the 'Île de la Cité', the historic island in the River Seine in central Paris.