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Origin and history

L-oppidum des Baou de Saint-Marcel is a fortified Celto-ligure habitat, founded in the first quarter of the 6th century B.C. and abandoned in the late 2nd century B.C. Implanted on a tufier plateau at 167 m above sea level in the 11th arrondissement of Marseille, it extends over 3 hectares, naturally protected by a cliff to the west and by a stone rampart built since 575 B.C. This defensive system, redesigned until the fourth century BC, includes a courtine and an ovoid tower, typical of local techniques combining tufa and clay bellows.

The site reveals a continuous occupation, marked by modest dwellings (12 m2 on average) and economic activity linked to Mediterranean trade. The excavations, initiated in 1930 by Henry de Gérin-Ricard and then deepened between 1964 and 1972 by Paul Agostini, revealed local ceramics ( urns, cups) and imported (grècques, Etruscans, then attics and Campanian). These artifacts suggest intense commercial ties, although the hypothesis of massaliot control is now nuanced.

Between the middle of the 4th and early 2nd century BC, the oppidum experienced a relative decline before an architectural recovery around 150 BC. Its definitive abandonment, towards the end of the 2nd century BC, coincides with Roman expansion into Gaul. The surrounding remains and soils, potentially rich in archaeological traces, have been protected as historical monuments since 1990.

Recent research, notably by Guy Rayssiguier and Christiane Guichard, invalidated François Villard's theory that the site would be a Marseille military outpost. The archaeological data confirm rather an autonomous indigenous village, in close but unsubordinate interaction with Massalia (Ancient Marseille).

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