Villa de Saint-Pierre de Vence, Roman villa and archaeological site in Eyguières, France.
Villa de Saint-Pierre de Vence is a Roman settlement in Eyguières with preserved foundations and wall remains from ancient times. Excavations reveal residential areas alongside storage structures and production spaces for farm work.
The estate developed during the first centuries after Christ as a farming property in Roman Gaul. Later it fell out of use until archaeologists uncovered the remains in the 20th century.
The site lies beside the hamlet of Saint-Pierre de Vence, whose chapel gave the villa its name; the settlement itself was abandoned around the year 1000 when its inhabitants moved to the castle of Roquemartine. Excavations from 1899 onward, begun by the Perret brothers, uncovered pottery and everyday objects spanning the Iron Age to the Merovingian period.
Access is on foot: from the Glauges valley a dirt path runs along the Mont Menu massif, or from Roquemartine take the D25 and turn off at the Saint-Pierre de Vence chapel. The site lies on flat ground at 139 m, with low, rough-stone foundations and loose rubble underfoot, so wear sturdy shoes.
The oldest find is a straight ditch 8 metres long cut into the bedrock, holding material dated 75–50 BC; it may have enclosed a sacred area linked to a cemetery about 100 metres west. A stone stele from Les Baux, without inscription, was found between the villa and the cemetery.
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