Viticulture et équipements de production dans la cité de Lodève durant le haut Empire : apport des découvertes récentes autour de Clermont-L'Hérault

Abstract

Preventive archaeology projects carried out over recent years on the site of the former ancient city of Lodève. in the Hérault valley (situated in the Hérault department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of Southern France), have allowed several studies of agricultural units active under the High Roman Empire. They provide evidence of a relatively strong overall structure, possessing a wide variety of production equipment. The nature of these installations and their association with a large area of winegrowing indicates a developed winegrowing economy and quite an unusual organisation of production. Most of the units appear to be modest in size, but their combined number may be very high. A number of them are concentrated in small rural agglomerations, in what were most certainly specialised groups (traduction G. Tearse).