A century of research at the Ensérune oppidum

In 1860,Abbé Alexandre Ginies (1805-1885) was the first to describe sections of ramparts and silos in what he called his "Musée en plein vent".

Félix Mouret (1862-1939) noted in 1895:
"following heavy winter rains, circular funnel-shaped subsidence had occurred across this vast plateau, corresponding to the orifices of silos and cisterns.... The vines, destroyed by phylloxera, had given way everywhere to poorly cultivated or even fallow fields, over which the hoof of my trotting horse sounded in places like a vaulted surface [...] and in its bosom it contained a host of cavities that it would be of the greatest interest to explore."

In 1915, he acquired vineyards on the plateau of the oppidum, where the excavation of 300 cremation tombs yieldedone of the largest collections of Greek, Iberian and Italic vases and Celtic weaponry in southern France.

In the 1950s, Jean Jannoray (1909-1958) and Hubert Gallet de Santerre (1915-1991), professors of archaeology at the French School of Athens, set up a field school at the University of Montpellier.

Excavations became more methodical, uncovering a vast terrace of silos at the foot of the hill, as well as residential areas with "Roman-style" architecture.