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Origin and history

Brossel Mile Terminal, located in the commune of Broc (Puy-de-Dôme), is a 1.96 m high grey arkose monolith with a 0.75 m square base. Although anepigraph (without inscription), its morphological characteristics and its location near the Roman way from Clermont to Brioude suggest a Roman origin. Archaeologists, such as Jean-Claude Béal, point out the frequent use of l'arkose for miles in the area, although this stone has also been associated with prehistoric menhirs by local populations, who call it Peiro levado (Pierre levado).

The boundary is mentioned from the Napoleonic cadastre and studied in the 19th century by Pierre-Pardoux Mathieu, who evokes a paved Roman road nearby. In 1945, Pierre-François Fournier partially dug it up and gave rise to the hypothesis of a missing engraved plaque, although he remained cautious about his Roman attribution. Despite its exclusion from the Latin epigraphic corpus (such as the CIL), recent research, notably that of Marion Dacko (2016), confirms its link with the Roman arber road network, due to its proximity to the secondary agglomeration of Blanède and the road to the Cross of the Stone.

Ranked a historical monument in 1951 as the "Roman Milemark", it is referenced in the Archaeological Map of Gaul (1994) and remains a discussed testimony of the Roman occupation in Auvergne. Its hybrid status — between menhir reused and road terminal — illustrates the difficulties of interpreting anepograph remains. Current studies tend to be Roman, although the absence of definitive inscription leaves a residual doubt.

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