The Sainte-Croix oppidum

Long before the medieval village, the Sainte-Croix hill, at 640 metres, carried an oppidum: a fortified Iron Age settlement, protected by ramparts raised around 200 BC and occupied for about two centuries. The place takes its name from the cross that stands on the summit today.

What you see

The site is not visibly excavated for the walker: the ramparts can be made out in the vegetation and the relief, and it is above all the position that speaks, between the Nans plain and the first slopes of the Sainte-Baume. It complements the neighbouring Old Nans in a single story of hilltop villages gradually abandoned for the plain.

Getting there

The hill is reached from the village by the paths climbing south of the Miséricorde chapel. The ground is that of the scrubland: stay on the paths and avoid the hot hours in summer.