Entremont (Oppidum)

Entremont is a 3.5-hectare archaeological site three kilometres from Aix-en-Provence at the extreme south of the Puyricard plateau [1]. In antiquity, the oppidum at Entremont was the capital of the Celtic-Ligurian confederation of Salyes [1]. It was settled between 180 and 170 B.C., somewhat later than the inhabitation of other oppida, such as Saint-Blaise (7th to 2nd centuries B.C.) [1]. The site was abandoned when it was taken by the Romans in 123 B.C. and replaced by Aquae Sextiae, a new Roman city founded at the foot of the plateau [1]. The site contains two distinct areas of settlement surrounded by ramparts [1]. Excavations at Entremont in the 1940s produced a large collection of fragmentary pre-Roman sculpture [1]. The largest group of fragments consists of the heads and torsos of several male figures depicted in a seated position with their legs folded beneath them and one hand resting on the severed head of an enemy [1].