Sigean
An advanced defensive post of Narbonne, overlooking the former mouth of the Berre on the Lacus Rubresus (Etang de Sigean) and the Iberian road, on the S boundary of the territory of the Elisyces. Used as a relay station by Greek navigators from the first half of the 6th c. B.C. on, the oppidum continued to flourish until the end of the 3d c. B.C. when it was destroyed, probably by the Volcae, and finally abandoned. Meanwhile, the fortress had been destroyed again twice, slightly before the middle of the 5th c. B.C. and at the end of the 4th c.; the causes are still unknown.
Finds and observations made both in the settlement and the fortifications, each ca. 1 ha in area, show that the site was hellenized early: Greek wares, which are plentiful and of high quality; various kinds of Hellenic arrows; graffiti and stamps in Greek characters; a regular city plan; elaborately built ramparts. The defense system especially, of the barred spur type, is a rare example of Greek influence on native architecture in the 6th c. B.C. With the Berre and the inland sea providing natural defenses, the site was protected by a series of ramparts 200 m long in front of which, in the most vulnerable S-SE section, was a wide ditch. In the 6th c. B.C. two ramparts were erected beyond the ditch employing a fairly regular, unhewn masonry of mortared rubble faced with small stones. The first rampart, which is larger, is topped with low merlons, and has a rampart walk, two square towers, and a sturdy bastion (8 x 6 m). The carriage gate is set obliquely between two independent segments of this rampart; it has double leaves of wood, is protected by a redan, and has a postern gate.
A series of changes were made in the second occupation period: three new walls were added as well as a rampart in front of the main one, which was rebuilt at several points, a forewall in front of the entrance, and an inner circuit wall to replace the original second rampart; on the other hand, at the E end of the trench, a system of supplementary defenses was built using chevaux de frise. This last arrangement is unknown elsewhere in Gaul and may show Celtic influence. However, the ramparts of Pech-Maho, which are clearly indigenous in their masonry, seem in general to be a clumsy imitation of Greek fortifications.
The fortified area, as yet hardly excavated, consists of three strata of ruins containing quadrangular houses of one or more rooms, built mainly of stone. This built-up section remained unchanged from one occupation phase to the next, but with a slight modification of plan between the first and second cities. The plan of the original settlement is still not clear, but the few streets of the later settlements that have been excavated suggest a rough grid. The main road, which had a drain for collecting rainwater, let to a complex of religious buildings. Near the carriage gate and on its axis stood a pillar, apparently used to exhibit severed heads, and, 17 m away behind the inner rampart, some blocks forming a seat over the tomb of a warrior who was consecrated as hero-protector of the site about 250 B.C.
This whole area near the entrance to the city contained traces of the fighting that brought about the end of the oppidum: slain horses, fragments of weapons, and a good many domestic objects from houses that had burned down. These show evidence of trade with Ampurias, in particular. The finds are housed in the Sigean museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHYJ. Campardou, “L'oppidum préromain de Pech-Maho à Sigean,” Études Roussillonnaises 6 (1957) 35-65; Y. Solier, “Une tombe de Chef à l'oppidum de Pech-Maho,” Revue Archéologique de Narbonnaise 1 (1968) 7-37; Gallia 27 (1969) 388-91I; 29 (1971) 377-791
Y. SOLIER