Interventions archéologiques dans les murs de l’abbaye bénédictine de Caunes-Minervois. Église et cloître méridional (1984-1991) : premier bilan

Initiated by the Service regional de l’Archeologie and the Conservation regionale des Monuments historiques, together with the Caunes-Minervois municipality, a synthesis of the archaeological data recorded during soundings recently performed within the abbey church and the southern cloister (VIIIth-XVIIIth c.) has been realized Between 1984 and 1991, thirteen excavations concerned various sectors of the conventual group buildings : we do not take into consideration the interventions which took place outside, at the foot of the choir and near the bell tower and the porch. Each operation brought to light numerous remains ; mainly sections of walls, ground levels and graves, some of which belong to a phase of activity previous to the Romanesque period. Described in a more or less developed way in excavation reports kept in the scientific archives of the S. R. A., these elements had not until now been the object of a periodisation attempt concerning the whole site. No collation of the whole set of the surveys had also been undertaken.