Albion Plateau

The Albion Plateau is a high plain located across the French departments of Vaucluse, Drôme, and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. It is administratively divided into seven municipalities: Sault and Aurel, Ferrassières, Revest-du-Bion and Simiane-la-Rotonde, and Saint-Trinit and Saint-Christol.
From 1971 to 1996, the Albion Plateau served as the for the French nuclear deterrent force’s ground-to-ground ballistic missiles, with military installations extending into the municipality of Lagarde-d’Apt.

Toponymy

In Antiquity, the plateau was inhabited by the Albienses, a people belonging to the Albici federation. In, it is referred to as Plan d’Aubion, and in Mistralian-norm Provençal as Plan d’Aubioun.

Geography

Access to the Albion Plateau is via several mountain passes:

Col des Abeilles, between Sault and Villes-sur-Auzon,
, to the north, toward Drôme,
, toward Drôme and the Méouge Valley.
Geology

During the Jurassic period, more than 1,000 meters of alternating layers of limestone, marl, and clay were deposited.
The plateau rests on a limestone substratum of Urgonian facies. This formation features a karstic landscape with limestone pavements, calcarenite, and dolines. It is associated with Aptian sedimentary layers and Barremian calcareous sandstones, overlain by siliceous colluvium, alluvium, and Quaternary decalcification clays.
The limestone plateau, characterized by numerous sinkholes, forms a large aquifer extending from the to Mont Ventoux. Its underground rivers supply the Fontaine de Vaucluse. More than 200 sinkholes or shafts have been identified, often with narrow and difficult-to-access openings. The deepest include the Jean Nouveau shaft, with a 168-meter vertical drop, and the Autran shaft, both exceeding 600 meters in depth. The Souffleur system in Saint-Christol connects to the Albion River at 620 meters, with explorations reaching water-filled chambers at a depth of 921 meters.

Climatology

The plateau shares the climatic characteristics of the Southern Alps, of which it forms, together with Mont Ventoux and the, the westernmost chain. It transitions from a Mediterranean climate near Simiane-la-Rotonde to temperate and then continental conditions, with a mountain climate present only at the highest elevations.

Month	Jan.	Feb.	Mar.	Apr.	May	Jun.	Jul.	Aug.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.
Average minimum temperature	−1	−1	2	4	8	12	14	14	11	7	3	−1	5.5
Average temperature	3.5	5.5	7.5	10	14	18.5	21	21	17	12.5	7.5	2	11.7
Average maximum temperature	8	10	13	16	20	25	28	28	23	18	12	8	17
Precipitation	26.9	24.3	23.8	44	40	27.9	20.9	32.7	45.9	53.5	52.4	30.7	482.8

Fauna and flora

Flora of the woodlands include the downy oak, sessile oak, beech, aspen, birch, Scots pine, maritime pine, broom, heather, and chestnut. Seasonal mushrooms are abundant on the plateau, often associated with specific tree species. Common varieties include saffron milk cap, bloody milk cap, black porcini, golden chanterelle, hedgehog mushroom, and the Ventoux grayling. Other flora include spiny restharrow, erect brome, thyme, ash-colored broom, narrow-leaved lavender, corn gagea, marsh adder’s-tongue, alpine oat-grass, doubtful ventenata, laurel-leaved rockrose, flax-leaved adonis, field bedstraw, small-fruited false flax, three-spined bedstraw, large polycnemum, round-leaved hare’s-ear, corn-cockle, large-caliced androsace, and Spanish sainfoin.
There are numerous diurnal raptors, such as the short-toed snake eagle, Montagu’s harrier, golden eagle, booted eagle, northern goshawk, Eurasian hobby, European honey buzzard; nocturnal raptors include the Eurasian scops owl, Eurasian eagle-owl, little owl, boreal owl. There are also the woodchat shrike, red-backed shrike, southern grey shrike, masked shrike. Other birds include the rock, ortolan, and corn buntings; the common quail and rock sparrow; the western Orphean warbler, European bee-eater, Eurasian hoopoe, Eurasian stone-curlew, lesser spotted woodpecker, corncrake, Eurasian wryneck; the crested lark, Eurasian woodcock, and the little bustard.
Mammals include the red deer, wild boar, fox, hare, rabbit, and bats of the species Leisler's and greater and lesser horseshoe. There is also the parsley frog, asp viper, great capricorn beetle, stag beetle, and Jersey tiger moth.

Municipalities of the Albion Plateau

History

Contemporary period

The Resistance

During the Second World War, following the German occupation of Provence, a resistance network was established in the area between Mont Ventoux and the Lure Mountain. At its center, Fernand Jean, head of the Landing and Parachuting Section, along with deputies Arthur Delan of Caseneuve and Augustin Courveille of Apt, organized a network of landing sites across the Albion Plateau.
Fernand Jean, known as Junot, housed one of the SAP teams in an outbuilding of the Berre farm, located about one kilometer from the Spitfire and Abris landing sites.
He recounted one of the most striking episodes of the spirit of resistance that prevailed then: “On July 1, 1944, the occupying Security Services carried out a lightning raid on the farm. All my men managed to flee along with one of the family’s sons, Marcel Gaillard. They were forced to watch helplessly as the tragedy unfolded inexorably. Without any form of trial, Madame Blanche Gaillard, widow, was shot in front of her home, before the eyes of her other children, including Marceau Gaillard. He was fourteen years old at the time. Three times, he was put against the wall to make him confess where the maquisards and weapons were hidden. He knew, but he said nothing! He was ultimately spared, but the Boches set fire to the farm.”

The Village of Revest-du-Bion as seen by ethnologists

In 1971, ethnology students from the University of Provence at Aix-en-Provence, within the framework of the CERESM program, conducted a study of the village’s environmental and economic characteristics.
The village, built on a central mound within the municipality, functions as a hub where paths, drove roads, and roads converge, linking dispersed agricultural holdings and connecting the area to surrounding settlements. Its position has historically made it an important center for the distribution of goods through local shops and for the circulation of information in public spaces. However, some paths leading from farms toward neighboring municipalities, particularly in the northern part of Revest, have been poorly maintained and remain difficult to use.
The village community developed a strong sense of identity, expressed in the phrase “I am Revestois,” signifying belonging to Revest and its long-established population. Outsiders were categorized with specific terms: those from the plateau were called estrangié du dedans, those from the surrounding region estrangié du dehors, and those from elsewhere estrangié pas d’ici.
A distinction existed within the communal population between residents of the village and those living outside it. This reflected differences between the largely self-sufficient peasantry in the surrounding “quarters” and the villagers, who had access to public spaces, services, shops, and a place of worship.
On the plateau, the term quartier refers to areas that may be inhabited or uninhabited. These areas can be named after families, such as Plan des Barruols, Les Cléments, Le Michalet, Le Gendre, or Les Morards, or after geographical features, such as Combe de Bordeaux, Font d’Artigues, Combe du Pommier, or Le Médéric. Until the mid-20th century, residents of these outlying settlements regularly traveled to the village, typically three times a week, to shop and obtain bread from the baker, to whom they had previously supplied flour.
The central square functioned as the main space of village sociability, bringing together multiple activities within a small area. It served as a gathering place with benches, cafés, and a washhouse; a site of leisure with a boules ground; a center of economic activity with shops and public services; and a reference point marked by the public clock. It also provided a setting for social interaction and display.
A survey conducted in the 1970s indicated that village spaces were informally divided according to gender and age. Men primarily frequented cafés, the boules ground, the town hall, and a square reserved for their use. Women gathered at fountains, the washhouse, shops, and the church. The elderly occupied separate spaces, often benches located in shaded areas during summer and sunny areas in winter. Children primarily used the new village square.
From the early 20th century, Portissol Square served as an economic center. It hosted the four annual Revest fairs and functioned as a marketplace where lavender, agricultural products, and household goods were sold. Local shops offered wheat, potatoes, game, mushrooms, charcoal, and ochre, while some products, such as thrushes and mushrooms, were exchanged through barter for items like coffee, sugar, chocolate, soap, or canned goods.
In the second half of the 20th century, the village continued to serve as a center for the sale of cereals, wool, straw, fodder, and almonds, which passed through a local broker. Honey, mushrooms, cheeses, eggs, and poultry were partly resold by shopkeepers in Portissol Square. Potatoes were traded in Saint-Christol, lambs and wool in Sault, and thrushes and mushrooms to a cannery in Saint-Trinit. Lavender was marketed through brokers based in Séderon, Sault, or Carpentras. A significant change occurred at the end of the 1960s with the establishment of medium-sized stores in Sault, followed by the development of a commercial zone.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, numerous fairs were organized on the Plateau d’Albion. The inhabitants of Revest generally attended only those held in their village, with the exception of fairs in Sault, the Tommes fair in Banon on Saint Peter’s Day, and the horse fair in Barret-de-Lioure. Despite its altitude of 950 meters, the village’s location on a plateau facilitated communication with neighboring communities. Its central position allowed it to host four annual fairs, the most important being the Machottes fair in early July. These fairs attracted farmers and shepherds from surrounding villages, including Contadour, Banon, Sault, Ferrassières, and Saint-Christol, and played a significant role in horse trading and lamb sales. A notary from Banon was present to record transactions.
In Revest, where large landholdings were predominant, farms were distributed across different communal lands, including heathland, woods, meadows, and arable fields. This organization reflected traditional rights to water and irrigable plots. Springs, wells, reservoirs, and fountains were considered communal property.
Heathlands and woods, used for hunting and gathering products such as mushrooms and chestnuts, as well as drove roads for livestock passage, were subject to specific management due to their economic significance. Hunting was regulated through a system of progressive fees established by managing associations. Landowners paid the lowest rates, while hunters with no ties to the commune paid the highest. Intermediate fees applied to non-owner residents, former residents, and relatives of landowners. Similar regulations governed the gathering of chestnuts and mushrooms.
The protection of communal property was also reflected in family property, particularly in relation to the household, traditionally considered a feminine domain. Access to the home was preceded by established social rituals and exchanges, often concluding with an invitation to enter.

Revest-du-Bion	Total marriages	Endogamous marriages	Exogamous marriages
1853-1862	75	32	43
1883-1898	94	41	53
1921-1941	74	11	63
1963-1970	45	1	44

Studies of marriage patterns indicate significant changes in relationships between inhabitants of the commune and those from outside areas over the course of a century. Endogamous marriages, primarily between residents of Revest or the Plateau d’Albion, were gradually replaced by exogamous marriages involving spouses from more than 30 kilometers away. Until 1940, marriage networks largely coincided with the local economic zone of the plateau. After the Second World War, this framework broadened with the influx of labor associated with the construction of the base infrastructure and missile silos.