There has been a debate on whether there was a bridge before the Saint Bénézet bridge was built in the 12th century. Henri Revoil first said there may have been an older bridge. He said this at the French Archaeological Conference held in Avignon in 1882. His main argument was that the stonework at the base of the four surviving piers became visible. At very low water, stone blocks were visible. They were larger than those above. They had features that looked foreign to the existing bridge. The style of the masonry indicated to Revoil that there had been an earlier bridge dating from either the late Roman or Carolingian periods. In 1892 Louis Rochetin published an article. It said that the stone blocks at the base of the first pier and those on either side of the second pier supporting the chapel were the remains of springers that would have supported earlier Roman arches.