ABSTRACT
During the first half of the fourth century a building was constructed in the midst of a cemetery that lay to the east of Augustodunum, then a prominent civitas capital in central Gaul. Excavations undertaken at Saint-Pierre l'Estrier by Christian Sapin and Bailey Young in 1976, and continued through 1985 with the help of Jean-Charles Picard and Walter Berry, have provided new evidence in support of the antiquity of Christianity at Autun. The church at Saint-Pierre, and others like it, can be considered in the context of sacred topography, or the Christian impact on landscape. This issue is one aspect of the debate between advocates of a sharp break between pagan antiquity and the Christian Middle Ages, and those who stress elements of continuity. In order to understand the interplay between the siting of pagan and Christian holy places, one might begin by defining the character of pagan sacred topography.
