Abstract
Rural archaeology encompasses several different themes which, in the Aix‑en‑Provence area, have long been considered independently. Work on land parcelling and cadastration, as well as on rural settlements, occupied a central place in research until the 2000s. Today, with the influx of data generated by preventive archaeology and the more systematic use of environmental disciplines, it has become essential to rethink rural archaeology in a more comprehensive way. The remains unearthed over the last twenty‑five years, the exploration of larger areas and the growing number of sedimentary, anthracological and malacological studies are all factors that make it possible to add to our knowledge, refine the issues and open up new questions, in all aspects of rural archaeology. While it is still difficult to form an idea of the agricultural landscape, a number of elements nevertheless stand out. Within a land division with multiple influences and perhaps partly centurial, vines can be found everywhere, from the valley bottoms to the plateaux. Some particularly well explored areas have even revealed a more legible organisation, with long tree‑lined corridors beginning to appear along watercourses, surrounded by a first line of fields given over to pasture, cereals, more or less exploited fallow land or other plantations, more demanding than vines. As for cultivation practices, while the recommendations of agronomists seem to be generally followed, a few exceptions suggest that economy of means has sometimes prevailed. This initial assessment is an essential step towards mobilising people around these issues in the rural area of the city of Aix.