L'architecture religieuse de l'Auvergne entre Antiquité tardive et haut Moyen Âge à travers la documentation archéologique

In Auvergne, Late Antiquity and the first centuries of the Middle Ages are two periods which have been already well studied especially by historians. The establishment and the development of the first Christian sites have been highlighted, but the architecture of the few known churches has been less investigated. In order to offer a first synthetic overview as part of the CARE project, the aim of this analyze is to explain the formal, decorative and technical characteristics of religious constructions, built prior to the 11^thcentury, for buildings which are mentioned in the textual documentation, which walls are still standing or which have been stroked by archaeology, in cities as well as in rural parts of the Late Antique Civitas Arvernorum, i.e. Clermont’s diocese. Some continuities and changes are emphasized; the information is faced with the parallel development of cemeteries to estimate the impact of funeral organization on the architectural evolution.