MAILHAC
Aude, France.
Some 20 km N of
Narbonne, the oppidum of Cayla (altitude 144 m) near
the village of Mailhac is an isolated link in a chain of
hills connecting the Corbières with the Cevennes. Cayla
contains the ruins of five superimposed villages, the
first four of which were fortified. The rampart enclosed
an area of ca. 6 ha.
The chronology of the site appears to be as follows:
Cayla I: 880-700 B.C.; Cayla II: 600-475 B.C.; Cayla
III: 475-300 (?) B.C.; Cayla IV: 300 (?)-75 B.C.; Cayla
V: 75 B.C-A.D. 200. The first imports (Etruscan and
Greek) belong to the Cayla II settlement, but Greek
ware is also represented in the next occupation periods.
The first two cities had houses of wood and clay; those
of the last three were built of stone at the base and of
unbaked clay bricks above. The necropoleis and the 7th
c. B.C. village spread out in the plain between the hill
and the village, in the areas known as Le Moulin and
Le Grand-Bassin.
The finds, including both native and imported pottery,
are housed on the site, in the Taffanel Collection.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Louis, O. & J. Taffanel,
Le Premier
âge du Fer Languedocien, 3 vols. (1955-60); O. & J.
Taffanel, “Les civilisations préromaines dans la région
de Mailhac,”
Revue d'Études Roussillonnaises 5 (1956)
7-29, 103-30; id., “Deux tombes de chefs à Mailhac,”
Gallia 18 (1960) 1-37.
O. TAFFANEL
