''Le Mormont'' is a hill in the Swiss

canton of Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

, rising to an elevation of 605 metres, with a

prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

of about 115 metres. It is part of the

Éclépens Éclépens is a municipality of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, located in the district of Morges. History Éclépens is first mentioned in 814 as ''Sclepedingus''. Geography Éclépens has an area, , of . Of this area, or 52.8% is used for ...

municipality between lakes Neuchatel and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. The name is first recorded in AD 814, as ''Mauromonte''. It is derived from the Roman-era personal name ''Maurus''. Hermann Gröhler, ''Über ursprung und bedeutung der französischen ortsnamen von Hermann Gröhler'' C. Winter, 1933, p. 336 (citing Förstemann). For speculation on an alternative (Celtic or Germanic) derivation, see Gilbert Künzi, Charles Kraege, 'Montagnes romandes: à l'assaut de leur nom : étude étymologique des noms de montagnes de Suisse romande'', Archives vivantes romandes, Editions Cabedita, 2001
p. 34
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Geography

Le Mormont is a hill in the Swiss

, part of the

municipality, about halfway between lakes Neuchatel and

. It is rising to an elevation of 605 metres, with a

of about 115 metres, forming a watershed between the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

and the Rhone basins, separating the Venoge and the

Orbe Orbe (; la, Urba; older german: Orbach, ; frp, Orba) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was the seat of the former district of Orbe and is now part of the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois. History Orbe is first mentioned about ...

valleys to the south and north, respectively. The mountain is topographically connected to the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Frenc ...

to the west. East of Le Mormont runs the ''Entreroches'' gorge (460 m). The nearest village is La Sarraz with 2700 inhabitants, 3 churches and twice hourly trains for Lafarge-Holcim ´s 100 employees.

Archaeology

in 2009 the cantonal archaeological office of Vaud performed a

watching brief In British archaeology a watching brief is a method of preserving archaeological remains by record in the face of development threat. An archaeologist is employed by the developer to monitor the excavation of foundation and service trenches, lan ...

excavation, which led to the discovery of a late

La Tène period LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

(c. 100 BC) Helvetic cult site with a total of 250 Celtic burial pits containing sacrificial deposits. Among the deposited goods were ceramic and bronze vessels, iron tools, jewelry, grinding stones, coins, and both animal and human remains. It was reported as being of unprecedented size and richness for the period. It is unclear whether the human remains represent a cemetery or evidence of

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

. The site is of primary importance for

Gaulish religion Ancient Celtic religion, commonly known as Celtic paganism, was the religion of the ancient Celtic peoples of Europe. Because the ancient Celts did not have writing, evidence about their religion is gleaned from archaeology, Greco-Roman accounts ...

on the eve of the Roman conquest.

Flora

The flora of Mormont is characterized by a dominance of thermophilic and submediterranean middle-European elements, with a surprising intrusion of mountain species in a site covered with hill vegetation. As of 2013 with more than 900 species recorded on the site, the Mormont has been considered one of the botanical hotspots of the canton of Vaud, with as a definite advantage the fact that it is still very preserved from invasive plants. It includes 200 rare species at the cantonal level, even at the Swiss level, threatened, and about 100 red listed, including a large number of orchids and a rare linden hybrid in the spontaneous state. The variety of oak trees is exceptionally rich.

Modern history

In the 17th century, the

Canal d’Entreroches The Canal d’Entreroches (English: ''canal between the cliffs'') was planned in the 17th century as a link between the Rhine and Lake Geneva, and would have enabled inland waterway communication between the North Sea and the Mediterranean. It li ...

was dug through the ''Entreroches'' gorge, enabling water transportation between the Rhone and the Rhine rivers. The canal ceased to be profitable in the 18th century, and when a bridge across the canal collapsed in 1829, it was shut down altogether. The course of the historical canal is now traversed by a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

tunnel of the

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

Yverdon Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Roman era) is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district. The population of Yverdon-les-Bains, , was ...

line. Since 1953, Le Mormont has been substantially mined for chalk by multinational

LafargeHolcim Holcim is a Swiss-based global building materials and aggregates flagship division of the Holcim Group. The original company was merged on 10 July 2015 with Lafarge to form LafargeHolcim as the new company and renamed to Holcim Group in 202 ...

, producing 800,000 tons of

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

and 400,000 tons of annually. In 2006 to 2009 it was planned to extend the mining pit to the hill's summit, but because of the importance of the archaeological site, the mining operation was put on hold until a more detailed archaeological excavation could take place in 2014/15. In 2016, the canton of Vaud issued a permit for expansion of the pit until 2029. Local inhabitants and environmental organisations filed a lawsuit, which failed in cantonal courts. On October 17, 2020, 30-40 environmental activists occupied a

zone à défendre Zone to Defend or ZAD (French: zone à défendre) is a French neologism used to refer to a militant occupation that is intended to physically blockade a development project. By occupying the land, activists aim to prevent the project from going ...

(ZAD) on top of the hill above La Birette to protect the ecosystem from destruction. The Tribunal Fédéral decided in March 2021 that the expansion could proceed. The camp was evicted on March 30; stones and pyrotechnics were met with tear gas and rubber bullets, by the police.

References

External links