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- People have lived on the Roque-Haute since prehistoric
times !
Visit our virtual museum and discover the archaeological vestiges found
on the Nature Reserve!
The dates mentioned are for the start
of the period to which the vestiges have been ascribed.
(1) Invention of the first tools :
This quartzite pebble found on the Nature Reserve is
one of the earliest traces of human activity in the region. It is a tool
invented by the first Roque-Haute humans who settled on the alluvial terraces
along the banks of the rivers (Orb, Libron and Ardaillou).
This chopper (knapped along one edge only) was used for cutting up meat,
scraping skins or digging the earth. These early men were scavengers as
well as hunters, even prepared to eat sick animals, or those washed up on
the shore, over which they doubtless quarrelled with other predators.
(2) Taming fire :
This chopping tool (knapped along two edges) was more
efficient and sharper than the simple chopper. It was made after the discovery
of fire, which enabled people to improve the way in which they worked stone
for tool-making.
(3) Man the hunter :
These grating and scraping tools found in the Reserve
date from the Cro-Magnon period. Men at that time were skilful hunters,
who invented bows and arrows to hunts boar, reindeer, deer and birds. They
were moving on from hunting by means of large beats and turning to trapping
and building hides to capture their game. Other interesting finds on the
Reserve are arrowheads, hammers and shards of pottery.
(4) The first settlements and agriculture
:
At Mourguettes, excavations have unearthed this sheep
enclosure (low stone walls) as well as a Verazian dwelling containing stones
cut from the local basalt for milling corn. Early groups of people settled
on the slopes of the volcano and its terraces because it provided a strategic
viewpoint. The volcanic soil was also very fertile. Other artefacts discovered
on the site from this civilization are polished axes made of basalt, together
with pottery.
(5) Cremation of the dead :
This earthenware shard is a fragment of an urn of the
type in which Iron Age man placed the ashes of the dead. A double mark has
been drawn on the urn, which is a defining characteristic of the Champs
d'Urnes civilization, originating on the Danube. The urns were intricately
decorated with symbolic figures.
(6) Greek trading posts :
From about 600 BC trading routes started to fan out
in the Mediterranean from Etruria and Marseilles.
This piece of glazed pottery shows the influence of Greek civilization
on Roque-Haute.Was it part of a cup or bowl brought to the site by way
of trade or does it reveal where an ancient human settlement once existed.
If an archaeological dig were to be permitted, we would probably learn
the answer.
(7) The Roman occupation :
The Roman conquest of the south of Gaul was completed
in 121 BC. They then founded a colony in Narbonne. Pottery and traces of
a villa discovered near the Roque-Haute plateau testify to the Roman presence.
In fact, many vestiges of ancient roads (the Domitian Way) and Roman villas
have been unearthed along the Mediterranean coast.
(8) The Second World War :
The Roque-Haute volcano, which rises to a height of
41 metres above the level of the sea, has always been a strategic point
from which to view the arrival of possible enemies. It is a wonderful
vantage point from which all the Agde countryside, from the Mediterranean
right up to the upper Languedoc mountains, and sometimes, on a clear day,
as far as the Pyrenees. This is why the Germans set up a lookout post
there, during the second world war. The bunker has now been destroyed
and today only a few bits of concrete on the sides of the volcano remain
to tell of this recent chapter in its history.
Like to know more?:"
L'Homme de Roque-Haute ("The people of Roque-Haute"), an AGRN.RH
publication.
(See Boutique)
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