Initial findings and early research The first discoveries of early medieval rural settlement remains in France date back to the late nineteenth century. They mainly revealed Sunken-Feature Buildings (SFB) (Vauvillé 1894; Robert 1905; Forrer 1937). It was not until 1949 that the subject of Merovingian settlements was clearly discussed in Volume I of La civilisation mérovingienne written by the renowned scientist Edouard Salin (Salin 1949). In this work, archaeological examples are few and E. Salin primarily relies on written sources and on German examples when referring to dwellings. Some discoveries were mentioned in the 1950s and the 1960s in Alsace, Bourgogne, and Champagne-Ardennes as well as in southern France, particularly at Lombren (Fig. 1) where a hilltop settlement has been excavated (Chamarsson 1962).