Clotuche is a respected archeologist who currently works for Inrap, the largest organization dedicated to archaeological research in France. He has been publishing studies on Gallo-Roman civilizations in scholarly journals for over twenty years. This particular article was featured in Britannia, a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, the foremost organization in the UK for scholars of Rome and the Roman Empire.
The author argues that large-scale excavations are important to gain a better understanding of the archeological features of a site to establish a complete picture of the settlement. He uses the Scheldt Valley Commercial Activity Zone survey in northern France as the foundation of his argument on the possibilities a huge archeological intervention offers. The conducted excavation has yielded substantial data on the maintenance, structure, and development of the area in the Late Iron Age and Roman periods. Clotuche presents factual observations on the settlement layout, draws on multiple sources to make an educated guess on the reasons for this layout, and places the discovery in the context of history. The sources used are well-established scholarly books and articles on archaeology and Gallic and Roman civilizations that are therefore most likely accurate. It is difficult to state this authoritatively since most sources were published in French.
The article is generally well-balanced but may be biased to advocate for the benefits of large-scale excavations. It does not discuss the project’s disadvantages and challenges, such as large expenses, use of other important resources, or bureaucratic issues. However, compared to other sources, this approach fits the general academic trend of expounding the intellectual profitability of extensive archaeological excavations and assuming any knowledge gained is worth the difficulties. The author follows the standard academic formula for presenting factual historical research meant for a scholarly audience, similarly to Plinks and Herbst (2011). This study is much more in-depth, detailed, and heavily cited than sources like Smithsonian magazine articles or student projects. Since this is the first archaeological excavation in the area of Valenciennes, this article publishes completely fresh primary data.
Overall, this source is suitable for academic research because it was written by an experienced archaeological expert, published in a peer-reviewed journal, and used appropriate scholarly sources to contextualize primary data.