gems, glyptic, engraved gems, agate, cameo, intaglio, Rome, Roman, France, chrome chalcedony, mtorolite

This study focuses on a substantial collection of 63 intaglios discovered in 1989 during the excavation of a Roman sewer in the city center of Lons-le-Saunier. The materials—stones and glass pastes—as well as the wide variety of engraved motifs, including deities (notably Eros), heroes, human figures, animals, and symbols, along with stylistic analysis, date the pieces to between 50 and 150 A.D. These intaglios once adorned rings, most of which likely belonged to women, and were lost during visits to now-unidentified thermae, eventually being carried into the sewer system connected to the baths. Comparable discoveries in Britain and other parts of the Roman Empire, where gems are found alongside hairpins and beads, support the identification of the site as a bath sewer. Some intaglios are in chrome chalcedony.