Map of the position of the Carsac oppidium and the city-state of Carcassonne.   Carsac Oppidum. First Iron Age ceramics (VIIth Century BC).

ANTIQUITY THE ORIGINS : THE CARSAC OPPIDUM     round the VIIIth Century BC, the Carsac oppidum was established two kilometres south of the present city. The town, which extended over more than twenty hectares on the heights of a plateau was protected by a ditch and angled entrances. Because of demographic growth the site was reorganised towards the end of the VIIth Century. A second ditch reinforced by levees and wooden palisades was made to protect the new extension. For reasons that are not clear to us, the Carsac oppidum was abandoned at the beginning of the VIth Century BC and moved to the mound dominating the Aude plain. The vestiges collected during archaeological excavations show that the site was occupied from the early Iron Age up to the Roman conquest. They included low drystone walls, grain silos, pottery and bronze foundry ovens. The discovery of an abundance of goods, particularly earthenware objects (amphoras, goblets, vases...) attests to the activities of this settlement, open to the trading that had been established between the Aude region and the Mediterranean basin. Location of archaeological excavations in the City from 1972 to 1997.

Carsac Oppidum. First Iron Age ceramics (VIIth Century BC).