• Preventive archaeological excavations have been carried out on the site of the future college in the Port-Marianne district, rue du Mas Rouge, in Montpellier.

  • Archaeologists have found on this site, not far from the Millennium tram stop, agricultural remains, dating from the Neolithic and Middle Ages.

  • In particular, they unearthed silos to store cereals and a bread oven.

With his small trowel, the archaeologist unearths the fragments of a pottery, probably dating from the Neolithic era. “That's also why we do this job. We like to search, but we also like to find, ”smiles Mathieu Ott, head of archaeological excavations launched on rue du Mas Rouge, in Montpellier (Hérault). It is this site, in the Port-Marianne district, that the Hérault department has chosen to host the future college, eagerly awaited by families in the district.

As required by law, preventive archaeological excavations were carried out before the start of work.

And they have been particularly successful.

Archaeologists have unearthed remains that allow us to imagine what the first Montpellier people did here, at the very place where, thousands of years later, teenagers will run with their too heavy schoolbags in the corridors of the future college. .

Silos to store crops

"The remains belong to two different periods, the end of Prehistory [between approximately 3300 and 2500 BC], and the Middle Ages [around the year 1000, a few years after the founding of Montpellier]", explains Mathieu Ott , archaeologist at Inrap, the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research. But all of them allow us to highlight what the agricultural practices were at the time. There was, undoubtedly, an exploitation not far from there, of which the archaeologists discovered waste.

Silos dating from the Neolithic and the Middle Ages have, for example, been found.

"They make it possible to store cereals and legumes from crops in the basement," continues the archaeologist.

At the time, large overhead silos did not exist.

It was stored in the earth, one meter, sometimes two meters deep.

Once filled, these pits were sealed, hermetically, with stones and clay.

"

A bread oven from the Middle Ages

The excavations also made it possible to find an oven from the Middle Ages. “These are not ovens linked to a house, they are ovens dedicated to supplying bread to the community,” continues Mathieu Ott. These ovens were installed far from homes, to avoid setting fire. The cooking is done several times a year, and we eat the dry bread, soaked in the soup. There is no question of having a baguette of fresh bread every morning! "

And to date these structures, Inrap archaeologists look at the objects they discover inside.

“Ceramic, for example, which keeps very well, is not the same in the Neolithic and in the Middle Ages,” explains Mathieu Ott.

We complete with physico-chemical analyzes, in particular Carbon 14, which allow us to provide greater precision on the chronology.

The discoveries at Port-Marianne will be carefully preserved and made available to researchers.

And, that the parents of the corner reassure themselves, on the excavations are fruitful, there is no question that the work of the future college of the district will be behind schedule.

Science

Nîmes: Excavations bring to light vestiges of the 4th century BC

Science

Hérault: A new section of the Voie Domitienne discovered by archaeologists

  • Languedoc-Roussillon

  • Prehistory

  • Middle age

  • Montpellier

  • Archeology

  • Science

  • 0 comment

  • 0 share

    • Share on Messenger

    • Share on Facebook

    • Share on twitter

    • Share on Flipboard

    • Share on Pinterest

    • Share on Linkedin

    • Send by Mail

  • To safeguard

  • A fault ?

  • To print