The mas (Camargue farm) is the life unit of Camargue. Its buildings and spaces are adapted to an independent lifestyle and correspond to each of the needs and activities of its occupants. The word mas, derived from the Latin mansus (stopover lodging), was already used in the Carolingian cartularies to designate an area cultivated by the same family. The farmhouse traditionally groups together the master's house (photo), the farmers' dwelling, and the farm buildings in scattered habitats dating back to the Gallo-Roman period. The large farmhouses of the Rhône delta occupy the site of the Gallo-Roman villas whose stones (cairons or queiroun) originally brought by water from Beaucaire they reuse.