Saint-Nazaire-le-Désert is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Drôme

Drôme

Drôme , a department in southeastern France, takes its name from the Drôme River.-History:The French National Constituent Assembly set up Drôme as one of the original 83 departments of France on March 4, 1790, during the French Revolution...

 department in the Rhône-Alpes

Rhône-Alpes

Rhône-Alpes is one of the 27 regions of France, located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the Rhône River and the Alps mountain range. Its capital, Lyon, is the second-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris...

 region in southeastern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

History

Archaeology suggests that people have settled in the area for over six thousand years. Fragments of Iron Age

Iron Age

The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

 vases for roasting wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

 have been found in the area. There is also a ruined castle, sacred architecture and a sixteenth century church on water.

Population

Economy

The French goat's cheese Picodon

Picodon

Picodon is a goats-milk cheese made in the region around the Rhône river in southern France. The name means "spicy" in Occitan.The cheese itself comes in a number of varieties, each small, flat and circular in shape varying from speckled white to golden in colour...

 is made in and around the area of Saint-Nazaire-le-Désert. Lavender

Lavender

The lavenders are a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. An Old World genus, distributed from Macaronesia across Africa, the Mediterranean, South-West Asia, Arabia, Western Iran and South-East India...

is grown locally and products containing lavender are popular.