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Origin and history

The Castrum Saint-Jean, located in the commune of Rougiers in the Var, is a medieval archaeological site located at about 600 meters above sea level, on a rocky flat. It overlooks the basin of Saint-Maximin and allowed to control much of the chain of the Sainte-Baume, with a view extending up to the Sainte-Victoire mountain. This mountain castle, accompanied by its habitat, was occupied between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 15th century, before the population gradually moved to the hamlet "Le Pays Haut", then to the present village of the "Four Cantons".

The first records of the castrum date back to 1040 and 1044, where it is cited as a property of the Vence family under the name of Rothgerium. The site was the subject of extensive archaeological excavations between 1961 and 1969, led by Gabrielle Demians d'Archimbaud. This research, published in 1980, revealed exceptional furniture (93,919 tesses, 2,600 various objects, 114 coins) and marked the medieval archaeology of France by offering a pioneering methodological model for the study of rural habitats. The remains of the castrum have been classified as historical monuments since 1967.

The site consists of the ruins of the feudal castle, a village extending over 4,500 m2 partially girded with a enclosure, and a chapel built in 1860, Saint John of Solferino, erected in honour of Napoleon III. The spatial organization of the medieval village reflects a defensive and economic hierarchy: the central area was home to economic activities, while the northern part, protected by defensive buildings, controlled access routes. The excavations also revealed damage caused by a modern road in the less dense southern zone.

The historiographic importance of the Castrum Saint-Jean lies in its role as the first comprehensive excavation of a rural habitat of the lower Middle Ages in France. The innovative methodological protocols of Gabrielle Démians d'Archimbaud, especially for dating furniture in the absence of regional reference points, have had a lasting influence on archaeological practices. The site is considered an "ideal model" by historians such as Jean Chapelot and Robert Fossier, due to its rich documentary, the quality of the observations and its unique Mediterranean context.

The chapel Saint John of Solferino, an addition after the Middle Ages, bears witness to a more recent event: its construction in 1860 by the inhabitants to commemorate the passage of Napoleon III. An orientation table now offers an exceptional panorama of the region. The excavations, carried out by workers of the bauxite mines recruited for their physical resistance, also revealed the difficult living conditions of archaeologists of the time, while providing unpublished data on medieval material culture in Provence.

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