Another element of this remarkable heritage associated with pastoral farming is the threshing floor. These spaces with their stone surfaces were located close to the buildings used for storing grains. On threshing floors grains were separated from the chaff and straw through a process called dépiquage.
Certain settlements were particularly important due to their commercial activities, and therefore important also for the region’s pastoral-farming system. The village of Barre-des-Cévennes was considered the place for fairs. Its spring and autumn fairs could attract up to ten thousand people from neighbouring départements, but also from the Var, Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône.
Architecturally, the limestone plateaux of the Causses are good examples of humans adapting to the physical conditions connected to crops (little wood, problems with storing water) – hence the need for sheepfolds and enclosures to protect crops and round up livestock. Le Villaret is a handsome example of a typical construction of the Causse Méjean, where the virtual absence of timber led to buildings being realised with a single material: stone.
Communications between the plains of Languedoc and summer pastures constitute another strong point of the region, through the drailles or transhumance paths. Drailles, used by transhumant shepherds and their herds from plain to mountain in summer and in the opposite direction in winter, are the most remarkable linear element of the pastoral-farming landscape. They follow the ridges of mountain chains, and watersheds, and use the passes to cross over from one region to another, so as to avoid going down into the valleys as much as possible, the intention being to make the herd advance quickly. The main drailles are the collection drailles of L’Asclié, La Luzette, Jalcreste and Le Malons.
The way space was organised on Mont Lozère in the Middle Ages was strongly influenced by military orders, most notably the Knights Hospitaller. The wealth of the Hospitallers was largely in land donations. Their commanderies were thus large rural estates with the Hospitallers acting as lords. Among them was the Gap Francès estate, which comprised ten territorial units (called members), the chief member being at L’Hôpital on Mont Lozère.
This is an interesting ensemble from an economic point of view because of the variety of terrains and thus of products: wheat fields on limestone, rye on granite or schist, livestock in the vast open spaces. It was an enormous asset for the Hospitallers to own very large areas on Mont Lozère that were dedicated to livestock farming and transhumance. You can still see dotted around Mont Lozère granite boundary stones with a Maltese cross carved into them, to indicate the limits of the commandery lands.
Crop terraces: an example of adapting to pastoral farming
Whenever humans needed more land for their pastoral farming and found only unfavourable slopes, they built terraces. Topographical restrictions were overcome with incredibly hard work that always needed to be renewed. These landscapes, where nature and cropland intersect, have an aesthetic value. The Causses and Cévennes, a cultural landscape of Mediterranean pastoral farming, have exceptional terrace ensembles that have always impressed observers. Even though terraces are above all associated with the Cévennes, terracing is a technique that is essential for taming mountains and was much used in the gorges that encircle the Causses as well.
Some fine examples of terrace cropping:
St-André-de-Valborgne, Les Plantiers (Gard)
Ispagnac, Ste-Énimie, St-Pierre-des-Tripiers (Lozère)
Veyreau (Aveyron)
