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Perched on a rocky eminence, at the crossroads of land and sea, about ten miles from Béziers, Ensérune was probably one of the most important oppidum the South Mediterranean.
Its remains are characteristic of the pre-Roman settlement in the south of France. The pottery found during excavations carried out since 1915, can observe the progressive mixing between populations Celtic-Iberian and Mediterranean civilizations.
The occupation of the site generally corresponds to three periods. The first began in the 6th century BC: the simple houses, adobe, were scattered, and many silos dug into the tuff it possible to save power.
The Hellenistic period of the oppidum (500-300 BC) was accompanied by a development of trade and a new prosperity of the place: housing was stone, urbanization and better organized enclosure was built.
With the arrival of the Gauls, between 300 and 250, the town expanded and enriched terraces and cisterns, and the incineration necropolis dating from the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, was abandoned. At the end of the third century oppidum was destroyed. He knew, however, a new prosperity after the foundation of Roman Narbonne in 118 BC, and then he went out, it seems, in the first century AD.
All the archaeological remains found at the site have been collected in a museum, which houses outstanding collections.