LAUDUN Locality of Camp-de-César, Gard, France.
The present state of research suggests that human occupation of the Camp-de-César began at the end of the 2d c. It continued without a break until the 2d c. A.D. The site was resettled at the time of the barbarian invasions at the end of the 4th c. The Gallic town was particularly large and well defended. In Roman times the city, although smaller, still covered ca. 15 ha and had a high population density. The most important monument is a Cyclopean Celtic rampart. It was 3.5 to 4 m thick and ran N-S, protecting the W side of the Gallic town. It is built of large limestone blocks, often more than a meter on a side, arranged as facing for a rubble fill. To the SE on both sides of the entrance, the Romans built a wall of squared-off quarrystone, held together with lime mortar. Elsewhere, the natural abruptness of the terrain was enough to defend the settlement. Remains of different periods—a tower, house walls, pits, architectural fragments, hummocks hiding buildings, a chapel—are visible here and there over the whole plateau.The main finds are in the Musée Calvet at Avignon, the Nimes museum, and the museum at Bagnols-sur-Cèze (Gard).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Alegre, Le Camp-de-César de Laudun près Bagnols (Gard) (1865) I; V. Luneau, “La numismatique au Camp-de-César de Laudun,” in Compte rendu du LXIVème Congrès Archéologique de France (1897) I; L. Rochetin, “Le Camp-de-César de Laudun,” in Mémoires de l'Académie de Vaucluse (1899) 41ff; P. Raymond, L'Arrondissement d'Uzès avant l'histoire (1900) I passim.J. CHARMASSON