Definition:
On a rocky hilltop near the modern town of Rougiers, France, are the ruins of a medieval rural walled hilltop village. The village ruins, called Castrum Saint Jean, include a castle and church, and rectangular houses built of stone.
Rougiers is one of many medieval villages that were abruptly deserted during the Middle Ages, called Deserted Medieval Villages. There are several ongoing theories about why some but not others were deserted, probably as many reasons as there were to desert them. Deserted villages are great for archaeology, though; no messy later occupations obscure the ruins.
Sources
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
