Photo : Benh LIEU SONG / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Montpellier le Vieux
Montpellier-le-Vieux is a chaos of dolomitic rocks of about 120 hectares, set on the south edge of the Causse Noir, above the Dourbie gorges, north-east of Millau, in the Aveyron. The site is part of the Grands Causses regional nature park.
Erosion of the dolomite, by water and frost, has shaped over millennia a landscape of pillars, arches, towers and lanes that evokes a ruined city. The Occitan shepherds called it "Lo Clapas Viel", the old heap of stones. The present name dates from the exploration of the site by Édouard-Alfred Martel in 1883–1884, in allusion to the Occitan nickname of Montpellier, "lo Clapas".
Human occupation there is ancient: shelters and ruins attest a presence on the site for about eight millennia, with pastoral activity from the start of the Neolithic. It is explored on foot on marked paths or with a small tourist train.
