Canayère

In Antiquity, the village square was a cemetery. The name Trèves is believed to derive from the Gaulish trebo – meaning 'village' according to some sources or the Celtic water goddess according to others – or perhaps from trivium, crossroads... The track going over the Roman bridge at Le Trévezel, restored in the 18th century, was in fact an important road in Antiquity. There is another hypothesis if you consult Boissier de Sauvages' 1820 dictionary, in whose opinion Treva or Trebo are Occitan words referring to phantoms or spirits. You might well be tempted by this version once you know the history of the Pas de Joulié cave described below! (B. Mathieu)

Cette pelouse de petite dimension est l’un des rares milieux ouverts sur le causse de Canayère. Elle présente un intérêt pour la conservation de certaines fleurs, en particulier l’anémone pulsatille et plusieurs espèces d’orchidées. Pour limiter la dynamique naturelle de fermeture des milieux, un entretien par fauchage est régulièrement effectué.

Cette grotte abrite un site préhistorique qui fut daté de 2300 ans av. notre ère. Il comportait notamment un cimetière néolithique de près de 300 individus, issus de décès individuels successifs ou d’une inhumation collective liée à un conflit ou une épidémie. L’un des crânes portait l’entaille profonde d’un coup de hache, une vertèbre portait encore un poignard en cuivre ! Par mesure de protection, l’accès à la grotte est interdit. Ces vestiges sont exposés au musée de Millau.

In March 1952, Jolly, a forestry official, showed his friend Frayssignes this cave. Deposited in it they discovered the remains of 300 humans from the Neolithic, who had been carefully laid out side by side. The cave was rapidly declared a historical monument. In the depths of the cave, a great number of bear bones was also found. This cave bear, the ancestor of our brown bear (Ursus spelaeus), had a skull 50 cm long! In the winter, groups of these bears would have huddled together in clay wallows at the rear of the caves. Ursus artos succeeded the cave bear and was succeeded in turn by the brown bear, which was hunted to extinction in the 15th century. (B. Mathieu)