The great migrations of peoples which marked the first iron age also affected the Minervois. One of the main corridors for peoples coming from the east was via the Languedoc and the Aude valley.

Many tombs from the first iron age have been found in the Minervois : at Argeliers, Azille, Cesseras 'Saint Christol', Beaufort 'Coste rouge', Oupia 'Moulins', Olonzac 'Saint-Adrien', Siran (2), Pepieux, Mailhac.

Many of these tombs have been found during ploughing of the land. They are mainly on land at lower levels than the earlier stone age tombs. The funeral rites at this time included cremation. All the remains found have consisted of burnt bone remnants in covered funerary urns with other offerings laid out around the urn. The richness of the offerings includes jewelry in amber, bronze, rings, bracelets.

One of the principal sites discovered was at the Moulin in the commune of Mailhac where 150 tombs provided research material for the Taffanels, brother and sister from a local family who have worked in this field for the past sixty years or so. Much of what they discovered can be seen in an excellent museum created at Mailhac by the Taffanels.

This site is about 750m south-east from the iron age village community on the nearby hill, le Cayla. The tombs consisted of a circular depression in which was placed the urn containing the cremated remains, surrounded by offerings (very few in the case of the tombs at Mailhac) and the whole covered by a stone tumulus. Iron objects were rarely found on this site. Some of the pottery funerary urns were decorated and it is thought that in some tombs where there was apparently no urn, just burnt remains, the containers had been made of wood. The contents of the tombs were fairly uniform in quality and quantity leading the Taffanels to conclude that at this time, the civilisation had not yet developed in a sophisticated hierarchical manner.

The buildings of the iron age settlement at le Cayla had walls made of branches covered with mud. A deeper well has been found for water. The broken remains found during excavation shows the same variety as in the neigbouring tombs.

During the period of the VII - VI century BC, a series of 'Oppida', fortified sites on naturally defensive locations such as hill tops, were established throughout the Minervois. Known sites include : 'Pech de Saint-Vincent' at Aigues Vives (34), 'Lagarde Rolande' and 'Serre-Mejeanne' some 4km south-east of Olonzac, 'Pech de St Martin' above Siran, 'Balentras' at Montouliers, 'Le Caylar' 1km east of Agel, 'Sarazi' 5km north of Felines, 'le Cayla' at Mailhac.

Pottery remains found at the various sites show that commerce was well established between the various civilisations around the Mediterranean, Greece, Asia Minor, Etruria.

During the second iron age, buildings were made of stone and bricks and covered with mud. Money makes its appearance during the V century BC. A site of this type dating from 500 BC, Cayla III, has been identifed at the oppidum of Mailhac but its corresponding burial site remains to be found although some exceptional tombs have been discovered inside the fortifications. One of these was very richly provided with offerings and is considered to indicate the tomb of a person at the top of an established hierarchy.

A fouth town was constructed above Cayla III and this lasted through to the II century BC. Pottery remains indicate the widespread nature of the commerce of the day and the use of money had become widespread judging from the finds. Many pottery sherds are marked with writing in iberian characters which is held to indicate that the celtic invasion, which may have caused the fire which destroyed Cayla III, did not deeply influence the peoples of the Minervois. This fourth town was in turn destroyed by fire, perhaps at the time of the Roman invasion which occurred in the area around Narbonne in 118 BC.