A propos de la découverte d'un trésor de fausses monnaies du XIIIe siècle à Rihour

In Rihour, as the place has been named, was once erected a vast palace, built by the Duke of Burgundy from 1453 to 1465. One took advantage in 1980 of the digging works necessary for the construction of a tube station to open a campaign of archaeological searches, in the middle of what was once the central courtyard of the palace. This undertaking had a very precise goal as it ambitionned to make out levels of occupation prior to 1066, the date traditionnally acknowledged as that ot the origin of Lille. Hitherto the results have remained negative ; yet the archeologists were surprisxed to disclose a treasure containing 474 forged coins (studies by Jean Duples- sis), dating from the middle of the xinth century, a period of relative prosperity in Lille. The burying remains uo to now unaccountable. One should also stress that these searches were undertaken as part ot the supervision of the digging of Line n° 1 of the Lille Tube system.