Archail is located some 8 km north-east of Digne and some 5 km south of Le Brusquet. By road from Digne it is 14 km by a winding mountain road. The village is located in a wooded basin at an altitude of 920m. Access to the commune is by the D22 road which runs east from Marcoux to Draix and which passes through the northern tip of the commune. A local road runs off the D22 in the northern tip of the commune and continues south through the commune to the village. The commune is mountainous and heavily forested but there is a small area of farmland south-west of the village.
Geology
Much of the commune consists of rounded hills of eroded black marl. The Pic de Couar is spectacular as is the Pas d'Archail. The Ravine and Torrent of l'Areste is in the south in the hills.
Hydrology
A vast number of streams rise in the commune including: The Bouinenc, the Sauzeries Ravine, the Mouiroués Ravine, and its tributary, the Escure Stream. These all flow north to join the Bouinenc which continues west to join the Bléone.
Natural and technological hazards
None of the 200 communes of the department is in a no seismic risk zone. The Canton of La Javie to which Archail belongs is in Zone 1b according to the deterministic classification of 1991 and based on its seismic history. The Canton is in Zone 4 according to the probabilistic classification EC8 2011. The commune of Archail is also exposed to two other natural hazards: forest fire and landslide.
Neighbouring communes and villages
Toponymy
The area appears for the first time in texts around 1200 in the form Archallo. The origin of the name is Celtic-Ligurian and means in front of the rocks. The Historical Atlas of Provence also indicates a spelling of Arcalhum.
History
In Antiquity the Bodiontiques inhabited the Bléone valley and so were the Gallic people who lived in what is now the commune of Archail. The Bodiontiques were defeated by Augustus at the same time as the other people present on the Tropaeum Alpium and were attached to the province of Alpes-Maritimes during its creation. According to Daniel Thiery, the community was reported in the Polyptych of Wadalde in 814 under the name Argario. The community of Archail was under the Viguerie of Digne. In 1193 the lordship of Archail was given by the two lords of Saint-Julien to the Chapter of Digne. The lordship was divided between the Bishops of Digne and the Chapter of Digne before the French Revolution. These new lords strengthened their new possession and collected the population in a central location. As with many of the communes in the department, Archail had a school well before the Jules Ferry laws: in 1863 it already had a school that provided primary education for boys in the main town. No instruction was given to girls: neither the Falloux Laws, which required the opening of a girls' school in communes with more than 800 inhabitants, nor the first Duruy Law, which lowered the threshold to 500 inhabitants, related to Archail and it was only through the Ferry laws that Archail girls were able to regularly study. Between 1973 and 1979 the commune was merged with Draix under the name Archail-Draix.
In 2009, the active population was 7 people with no unemployed. 6 out of 7 of these workers were employees and worked outside the commune. As at 1 January 2011 the commune had only four active establishments: one in the construction sector, and three in the services sector, which offered the only job in the commune.
Agriculture
At the end of 2010 there was no commercial operation in the primary sector. There are nevertheless artificial meadows irrigated from the irrigation reservoir above the village at the foot of the Pic du Couar which was dug in the 1980s under the leadership of the mayor and the sheep farmer.
Service activities
At the end of 2010 the tertiary sector consisted of three establishments with one job. According to the Departmental Observatory of Tourism, tourism is very important for the community, with more than five tourists welcomed per resident. Most of the accommodation capacity is non-market and is composed solely of secondary homes: 18 secondary homes are three quarters of the commune housing.
Sites and monuments
Old houses in beautiful condition.
The Parish Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and Saint George was built in 1828. Its origin can be traced back to the 13th century. The church contains many items that are registered as historical objects:
The Notre Dame Chapel, situated on a hill in the middle of the cemetery, is the oldest parish church in the community: its foundation is older than the current village church. Residents participated in the rebuilding of the chapel in 1994. Until the Revolution and the Empire, this chapel was the focus of a pilgrimage in August, which attracted people in surrounding communities, and which ended with games and a ball.
Cultural life
The association Les Ateliers du Couar hosts May Art every year in May with many artists-exhibitors and various other events related to images in all their forms and in association with many artistic expressions. The theme is rural and historical heritage and messages are conveyed through various modes such as the creation of an artist's book on transhumance. This association publishes Les Cahiers du Couar with four numbers:
"Banaste of words and images for a summer pasture. Transhumance 2005 at the foot of White Horse"
the Robines
In September 2008: the Couar Workbook No. 3 on "Water"
In October 2009: the Couar Workbook No. 4 on honey and lavender
Notable people linked to the commune
Jean-Pierre Alexandre Dieudé, born in Archail, general of the armies of the Republic and the Empire.
