Timeline

Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Gallo-Roman site of the Cars, located on horseback on Saint-Merd-les-Oussines and Pérols-sur-Vézère in Corrèze, dates from the first half of the 2nd century AD. It consists of ruins of funeral buildings and a villa, revealing the implantation of Gallo-Roman civilization in the Limous Mountain. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1935, it was discovered by Marius Vazeilles in 1917, as he explored the area for a reforestation project. The excavations, begun in 1936, revealed remarkable remains, including granite mausoleums assembled without mortar but with metal staples, looted in the third century by barbarians to recover the metal.

The Villa des Cars, with a running water system, hypocaust heating and mosaics, is a testament to a high standard of living. It included thermal baths (caldarium, tepidarium, frigidarium), a kitchen with a stone oven, and a room with a granite fountain and a mosaic in grey slate and red sandstone. A Merovingian axe, discovered in the ruins, suggests a reoccupation of the site around the 10th century. The adjacent artificial pond, fed by an eight-ton tank, ceased to function at the end of the second century, coinciding with the abandonment of the site.

Pollinic analyses reveal that the terroir has been cultivated since the second Iron Age (IVth–IIIth century BC), with rye and buckwheat cultures. At its peak, the Cars site was surrounded by arable land and pastoral moors, without forest cover. The vestiges, exhibited at the Vazeilles Museum in Meymac, illustrate the evolution of Gallo-Roman construction techniques, such as fish edge walls and the use of lead pipes.

The name Les Cars comes from the Latin quadratus, designating carved stone blocks. Originally interpreted as a temple, the funerary complex is now identified as a rural sanctuary, composed of two mausoleums and a film box. The excavations, carried out by the Historical Antiquities of Limousin, confirmed that three quarters of the site is located on Saint-Merd-les-Oussines, the rest on Pérols-sur-Vézère. The villa and sanctuary were destroyed in the third century, marking the end of the Gallo-Roman occupation on this plateau.

Marius Vazeilles, an archaeologist and forester, played a key role in the discovery of the site. Passionate about local history, he started the excavations after having spotted a circular stone in 1917. His work revealed the importance of the Cars among the Gallo-Roman remains of Corrèze, alongside the Tintignac arenas or the temples of the Jailants. The Meymac Museum, created to exhibit artifacts, today perpetuates the memory of this exceptional heritage.

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