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OFFICE DE TOURISME
D'ARGENTAT
Place da maïa
19400 ARGENTAT
Tel. 05 55 28 16 05
contact e-mail
 
Pays de la vallée de la Dordogne Correzienne
 
Communauté de Communes du Pays d'Argentat
Information Touristique sur Argentat The Tour Hilltop
 
 

Le Puy du Tour (The Tour Hilltop) is a Gaulish oppidum overlooking the valleys of Argentat and Monceaux as well as the confluence of the Maronne with the Dordogne.

An encampment existed at the Puy du Tour during the second Iron Age (450 to 50 BC). Naturally protected by the steep slopes leading to the summit, the site was completely occupied by quite a large village during the Gaulish epoch.

Thus from the village itself, the Gauls could observe the road leading from Armorica (Brittany) to the Mediterranean. Their thatched houses were of wattle and daub (wood covered with clay) and the here and there on can see holes left by posts. These made up the framework of the huts whose placing they show.

Puy du Tour
 

The population consisted of farmers but also principally craftsmen working in iron and bronze. The site was excavated by the archeologists EusPbe Bombal (1905 to 1915), A and J Murat (1952 to 1969) and J Murat & J-M Courteix (1984 to 1988) who found many metal artifacts of the period, primarily arms, jewellery & tools.
Puy du Tour
 

The grain farmers used sickles and millstones. Their harvest was then brought to the summit where it was stocked in silos, just as water was stocked there in cisterns.
The recovery of many Italian amphorae demonstrates that trade flourished between the village craftsmen and the itinerant merchants who travelled the road from the Mediterranean to Armorica. These finds, as well as models of the village, are on exhibition at the Maison du Patrimoine (Heritage House).
 

The Pax Romana led to the site being abandoned. During the Gallo-Roman period, people moved to the valley, as at the Longour Villa, and on nearby plateaux.

Nowadays the site is decorated by a red and white TV antenna, which at 408 metres (1300 feet) makes sure it is easily seen from the Dordogne valley.

 

 
Puy du Tour
 

 
 
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