Page 44 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

42  introducing provence

Ancient Provence

rock carvings, fragments of paintings and remains from
primitive settlements suggest that provence was first
inhabited a million years ago. carvings in the grotte de
l’observatoire in Monaco and the decorated grotte cosquer
near Marseille are among the oldest of their kind in the world.
nomadic tribes roamed the land for centuries, notably the
celts from the north and the Ligurians from the east. not until “Double Head” Carving
This stone figure (3rd century BC)
the arrival of the phoenicians and the greeks did trade probably decorated a Celtic
flourish in a more structured way and provençal sanctuary.
society become more stable.
The bories at Gordes date
back to 3,500 BC.
Celtic Doorway
(3rd century BC) The
niches in the pillars
held the embalmed
heads of Celtic heroes.

The Grotte des Fées at Mont
de Cordes contain prehistoric
carvings often associated with
modern astrological symbols.
The Foundation of Marseille St-Blaise, once a
heavily fortified Greek
When Greek traders arrived in trading centre, has
only minimal remains.
600 BC, their captain, Protis,
attended a feast in honour of The Grotte Cosquer, with
the local chief’s daughter, paintings dating to 30,000
Gyptis. She chose Protis BC, is accessible only from
as her husband. the sea.
The chief’s dowry
to Protis and Gyptis Wine jars, bound for Greece
was the strip of from 1,000 BC onwards,
land on which were found in Les Calanques
near Marseille.
Marseille grew.

1,000,000 BC Earliest human presence in Provence at
Grotte de l’Observatoire in Monaco; use of bone as a tool
400,000 BC
Fire first used
in Nice 60,000 BC Neanderthal hunters on the Riviera
1,000,000 BC 5000 4500 4000 3500
30,000 BC Appearance of Homo sapiens (modern
man); cave painting at Grotte Cosquer 3,500 BC First
borie villages
Cave painting from
Grotte Cosquer