The current village of Castellar in the Alpes-Maritimes department is dominated by the Roc d'Orméa. It consists of a rocky bastion impregnable because naturally defended, which rises above the Riviera offering privileged panoramas over the coastal towns of Ventimiglia, Menton, and Monaco. In 1955, the discovery of the Pendimoun shelter revealed the presence there 6,000 years ago of domestic animals, polished axes, ceramics, and bronze, as well as a skeleton known as the man of Castellar. On the northern spur of the Roc d'Orméa, at an altitude of 2,854 ft (870 m) on the edge of the cliffs, are the ruins of the former village of Vieux Castellar, abandoned in 1435 once the threat of Saracen invasions had dissipated.