Carcassonne old city occupies a hilltop surrounded by rich agricultural plains... all the prerequisites for a neolithic settlement site. It grew... but little is known of its neolithic history.
The Romans selected Carcassonne for settlement... taking the neolithic structures and expanding on them. Romans didn't get into the frenzy of infrastructure building that characterises their settlements in Provence... Rome came to Carcassonne late (around 100 AD)... and by the time they sorted out the defences, the Roman Empire was in decline. So, we didn't see giant amphitheatres... no public baths... just one very small theatre... and not an aqueduct in sight. But the defences Rome put in place illustrated their broad vision... their willingness to put slaves to work... resulting in impressive structures. It is interesting to compare the additional defences built by Gaul and Frank rulers... thousands of years after the Romans had departed. They built a wall outside the Roman wall at Carcassonne... because they had allowed the Roman structure to fall into disrepair. The 13th century wall is less than half the height of the Romans'. The Roman wall was designed to provide an integrated defence system... giving fast movement of Roman troups to selected kill-spots for attacking troops... Romans applied decorative effort to their building. The outer wall shows no signs of sophistication.
The 13th century history of Carcassonne starts with the Carthar heresy. Pope Innocent III used to lie awake at night worrying about those dastardly Cathars... they had found a chink in the armour of the mighty Catholic Church. Carthar religion was a Christian religion... but designed to appeal to the ladies... they could (and did) take any position in the church... they had equal rights within the community... having children was seen as a weakness for both parents... so family sizes were generally small. The women loved this religion... and badgered their husbands to take it up. The Catholic Church sent missionaries to argue the case for abandoning the heresy... and tell the men that women were more evil and weak than them... and that only men had the right to speak on behalf of God... missionaries didn't have much luck. Next Pope Innocent instructed the neighbouring Counts to set their soldiers onto the Cathars... give them a few funerals to clear their thinking... Pope Innocent didn't take his nom-de-plume too seriously! The neighbouring soldiers went out... and came back... reporting, "These are our cousins you are asking us to kill... they are some of the most saintly people to walk this earth." Pope Innocent had few innocent thoughts when the Counts reported back. He went straight to the king of France. "Get rid of the Cathar heresy... and I will give you absolution to mount a crusade against the Islamic infidels." That sounded a pretty good deal... so he sent a few hundred troops down south... anyway, he needed to strengthen his border with Aragon. On the way to Carcassonne, the army raped and pillaged poor old Beziers... they had nothing to do with the terms of reference set by Pope Innocent... but the young army wanted to satisfy its blood lust. By the time the army marched the extra 30 klms to Carcassonne, they were feeling a bit more professional. They set up a siege... and after an appropriate interval, the local Count decided to accept the opportunity to negotiate... the French army threw him into prison upon his entering the negotiating room... and left him to starve to death. The citizens of Carcassonne were marched to the city limits and told not to come back. At this point, the French decided to build an outer wall... but their efforts were put to shame in comparison with the Roman effort.
Here is another "if only" experience. The Catholic Church could have saved itself a lot of bother if, instead of persecuting the Cathars, they accommodated some of their principles... primarily, the equality of the sexes. Radical thoughts, I know, but I'm just saying...
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