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The Minervois - Pre-history, the Bronze Age

Gradually the use of copper was replaced by a new alloy, bronze, which was harder and therefore took a better cutting edge. With the migrations of people around Europe, trade ensured that the use of bronze spread widely and with it, the use of flint gradually declined. The manufacture and decoration of pottery became more sophisticated. These developments can be observed in remains found in the Minervois.

Megalithic monuments became more numerous and more simple and are found throughout the northen part of the Minervois. North of Minerve, along the northern edge of the Cesse, are some 62 dolmens hidden in the dense scrub of the garrigue. They are commonly oriented such that their entrance faces south or east. Funeral offerings found include pins, beads, decorated bone slices, rings, bracelets of bronze, flint arrow heads and knives as well as pottery.

Other bronze finds include 15 axe heads found near the church of Centeilles at Siran and other items found at Bize-Minervois, near the tower of 'Boussecos'. These items are believed to date from the end of the bronze age, around 900 BC.
At Saint-Jean-de-Minervois, there is a fortified emplacement on which has been found a dolmen, partly hidden by the fortifications, containing bronze funerary items. It is not known whther this site was indeed occupied during bronze age times.

Pre-HistoricPaleolithicNeolithicNext - Iron AgeThe Romans

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