Traces of Life

Traces of Life

12 rock shelters and sheepfolds from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages

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”.

La Région Occitanie
Parc naturel régional des Grands Causses
Sites d'exception en Languedoc
Aveyron Vivre Vrai
Explore Millau

La Cité de Pierres in Montpellier-le-Vieux


“The Causse Noir is the richest of all runiform rock masses: Montpellier-le-Vieux, the region’s capital...is one of the most remarkable rock cities in the world”
Edouard Alfred Martel

Contact us

La Cité de Pierres
Montpellier-le-Vieux
Lieu dit Le Maubert
12100 Millau - France
+33 (0)5 65 60 66 30

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