Page 45 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

the hist or y of provence  43

Vallée des Merveilles
About 36,000 carvings date Where to See Ancient
from 2,000 BC. Among them Provence
are strange, witch-like figures Many museums, such as the
known as orants. Musée Archéologique, Nîmes
(see p136), have excellent
collections of ancient artifacts.
The well-preserved bories in the
Luberon (see p173) illustrate early
village communities; the Grotte
de l’Observatoire in Monaco (see
p98) is an example of an even
The Vallée des more primitive settlement.
Merveilles carvings
suggest that nearby
Mont Bégo was a
focus for worship.

Borie Village at Gordes
These dry-stone dwellings (see
p173) have for centuries been
used by nomadic shepherds.
The Grotte de
l’Observatoire in
Monaco yielded
evidence of symbolic
human burials from
prehistoric times.
The “Fairy Stone”,
Péiro de la fado in
Provençal, is the only
true pre-historic Grotte de l’Observatoire
dolmen in Provence. Skeletons uncovered here have
characteristics linking them with
southern African tribes.

Ancient Sites of Provence Standing Stone
Most sites lie along the coast, but there Prehistoric stelae, like this
are some pockets of settlement inland carved stone from the
near Tende, in the Luberon, and in the Luberon, are scattered
Vallée des Merveilles (see p101), which throughout Provence.
stands at about 2,500 m (8,200 ft).

2,500–2,000 BC Carvings 380 BC Celtic
at Vallée des Merveilles invasions of
Hannibal crossing Provence
the Alps
3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 BC

600 BC Greek traders settle at
2,000 BC Tombs St-Blaise. Founding of Marseille
carved at Cordes
218 BC Hannibal passes through region to reach Italy