La Cité de Pierres is an integral part of Aveyron's history. It was inhabited continuously from the Neolithic period (6000 - 3500 BC) to the Middle Ages, through the Iron Age and the Gallo-Roman period.
The most visible or accessible traces of life are the rock shelters, cisterns and sheepfolds that are evidence of agricultural activity, as early as the Neolithic period.
The Gallo-Roman period and the early Middle Ages were marked by intensive exploitation of the forest: cutting wood for heating the pottery of Millau and distilling resin from the branches of the conifers to produce the pitch necessary for waterproofing the hulls of ships.
However, the most unusual traces can be found on the terraces at the peak of the large rocky areas. These allowed their inhabitants to be safe from predators, and to serve as a place of solar or lunar worship, just like above the sculpture “le Trou de la Lune”.