Though excavations have shown that Alsace was inhabited during the Stone Age and Bronze Age by wandering hunters, it was not until 1500 BC that the first settlers - the Celts- began to clear and cultivate the country. In 58 BC the Roman invasion ushered in a long period of prosperity and a burgeoning of culture in many areas. It is generally agreed that the Romans established viticulture as a serious and organised business. the great Caesar himself referred to his newly conquered land as “optimus totius Galliae”, the best of all Gaul...” and to protect it built a series of fortifications and military camps. One of the camps, known as Argentoratum, was enventually to develop into Strasbourg.