ROGNAC
Bouches-du-Rhône, France.
Situated 18 km W of Aix-en-Provence and 20 km S-SE of
Salon-de-Provence. One kilometer SE of the city is an
extremely narrow finger of rock (240 x 30 x 70 m) belonging to the Arbois plateau on which is the site of
La Castellas, 159 m high. It is a spur with steep sides;
which on the N is cut off by a fortified wall. Along the
cliff are 18 huts arranged in two rows; they have walls
of dry stones set firmly on the rock, which has been
meticulously flattened and prepared (hearths, silos [?],
furnace). Only a few objects have been found (a stone
mill, some amphorae for storing food). In contrast the
pottery is apparently abundant: Massaliot and Graeco-Italian amphorae, Campanian A, indigenous vases; pottery is also found in the neighboring sites of Las Fauconnières (2 km N-NE) and Les Coussous (2 km W).
Coinage is represented chiefly by obols and drachmas of
Massalia. A coin from Carthage, another from Nemausus, and a little gold ingot may be evidence of more far-flung trade. Occupied in the 3d c. B.C. and abandoned at the time of the Roman conquest of the territory of the
Salyes (ca. 121 B.C.), the site belongs to the Celto-Ligurian civilization of Iron Age II and III. In the Gallo-Roman period the town was established farther down
from the plateau, nearer the Etang de Berre (sites of
Les Canourgues, Le Vacon, etc.). Le Castellas was not
occupied again until the Middle Ages when it was fortified, hence its name. The remains of the statue of a cross-legged figure (cf. Velaux) come from the area
around Rognac.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gallia (1967) 405; (1969) 432;
Contribution a l'étude historique de Rognac (1969) 11-30.
H. MORESTIN
