Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

It is a unique archaeological site located in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts (Bouches-du-Rhône), in Provence-Alpes-Côte d‐Azur. Placed on a rocky spur between the Lavalduc and Citis ponds, it dominates a strategic landscape since Neolithic (c. 4700 BC). Its development was initially linked to the exploitation of salt, an abundant resource in the surrounding ponds, attracting from the 7th century BC Etruscan merchants who established a rival commercial counter in Marseilles. The city reached its peak between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC, marked by proto-hellenistic urbanization, monumental ramparts, and intense Mediterranean exchanges.

The excavations, initiated by Henri Rolland from 1935, revealed a complex stratigraphy in 8 layers, covering Neolithic in the 14th century. Major remains include an archaic rampart (VIIth century BC), a Hellenistic enclosure with quadrangular towers (IIth century BC), and paleo-Christian buildings such as the Basilica of Saint Vincent (IVth-Vth centuries). The city, named Ugium in the late antiquity period, was destroyed by the Saracens in 874, then gradually abandoned for the benefit of the medieval village of Castelveyre, itself deserted in 1390 after the ravages of Raymond de Turenne. The discoveries also include a Wisigothic necropolis (Vth-Vth centuries) and traces of metallurgical or wine storage workshops, demonstrating a diversified economy.

The site is distinguished by its hippodamian urban organization (IIth century BC), its protohistoric dwellings (such as the House of Jarres), and enigmatic cultural elements, including cephaloid pillars suggesting an indigenous sanctuary comparable to those of Entremont or Glanum. The abundant freshwater sources (such as the Source of Tourtoulane) and successive fortifications underline its defensive and commercial role. Today, the oppidum, managed by the Community of Agglomeration of the country of Martigues, is the object of development programmes to make it a place accessible to the public, while preserving its 15,000 archaeological artifacts, mainly ceramics.

The toponymy of the site remains mysterious: the ancient texts evoke Mastrabela (IVth century) or Mastramélè (VIth century), but no clear name noemerge before Ugium (Vth-IXth centuries) then Castelveyre (XIIth-XIVth centuries). The absence of inscriptions, apart from graffites on vases, limits certainties. Recent research, carried out by Jean Chausserie-Laprée, aims to clarify his late antiquity and medieval organization, notably through the study of the 13th century ramparts and the chapel Saint-Blaise, the last vestige in elevation. Ranked in Natura 2000 and protected by the 1930 law, the site embodies both local and Mediterranean heritage, reflecting the interactions between Celtic, Greek, Roman and medieval cultures.

The open houses, like those of the City of Basse (IIth century BC), reveal a society organized in islets, with paved streets and specialized houses (stocking, metallurgy). The High Town, reserved for the elite, may have housed administrative or religious functions, as suggested by an ash tumulus interpreted as altar. Repeated destructions (fires around 625 and 550 BC, Roman siege in the 1st century BC) and partial reoccupations (as after the abandonment of the 4th century) illustrate remarkable resilience. Today, the archaeological collections are preserved in Martigues, while the site, currently being developed, offers a major tourist and scientific potential to understand the cultural dynamics of ancient Provence.

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