Rock of Solutré
Encyclopedia
The Rock of Solutré is a limestone escarpment 8 km (5 mi) west of Mâcon
overlooking the commune of Solutré-Pouilly
and an iconic site of the Saône-et-Loire
, in the south of the Bourgogne
. Protected by the French law on sites classés and currently at the heart of a Grand Site National operation, it draws its fame severally as a rare geological
phenomenon of the region, as a prehistoric site
of the eponymous Solutrean paleolithic culture
, and for the natural environment which it summit provides, the pelouse calciole grassland of Mâcon, with its distinctive flora
and fauna
. Occupied by man for at least 55,000 years, it is also the cradle of the Pouilly-Fuissé
wine appellation. It has attracted media coverage since the 1980s
when French President François Mitterrand
started to make ritual ascents of the peak once per year.
era warm seas extended over the region, of which many fossil
remains can be readily observed. The Roche de Solutré, like its neighbour the Rock of Vergisson
, was created from fossilized coral
plateaux which appeared approximately 160 million years ago in these seas.
In the Tertiary era, the east of Bourgogne underwent the effects of the Alpine rising; while the Alps
grew higher, the Saône
basin collapsed. At the same times, plateaux rose in the west of the plain, then rocked towards the east.
These processes had mixed up types of land with different natural composition, and erosion
acted on them differently. The shapes of the surrounding mountains became more curved, while the cliffs of Soulutré and Vergisson have emerged on the west side, contrasting with the gentle slopes on their east.
in the foreground, then Ain and Dombes
against the backdrop of the Alps and Mont Blanc
in good visibility.
In the three other directions the countryside is less open and bounded by the lines and crests of surrounding hills, with vineyards, villages, and typical Mâconnais settlements, in particular:
in bones and stone artifacts. Following their discovery, the Rock gave its name to a culture of the Upper Paleolithic
, the Solutrean.
The zone of Upper Paleolithic homes was quickly discovered by Henry Testot-Ferry
, along with some tomb
s of raw slabs. In the homes, numerous flint tools were found, including spear
-points, choppers
and other scrapers, and also a large hoard of bones, mainly from reindeer
but also from horse, elephant
, wolf and cave tiger.
Testot-Ferry and Adrien Arcelin decided to to see if they could determine scientifically how large the deposit was that they had brought to light, and to examine with great care the remains that they had recovered. The challenge was to understand the arrangement of stratigraphic
areas of the site, which would be the basis for establishing a chronology
.
In 1868, the existence of a station for foot-based hunters was the preferred scientific hypothesis. The two discoverers called on specialists and presented their work at conferences. Solutré was revealed as one of the greatest prehistoric sites in France.
In 1872, Gabriel de Mortillet, on of the most important prehistorians of his time, decided to name prehistoric periods after sites where they were particularly well presented. Thus the term "Solutrean" was born.
Numerous excavations were conducted thereafter. The excavation site remains protected, and partially unexplored, to this day.
The bone-laden magma can be explained by the fact that the site was used by four great paleolithic civilizations over the 25,000 years from 35,000 to 10,000 B.C, an extremely long time period.
The use of this site was therefore devoted to hunting activity, butchering and smoking meat, while the neighbouring Rock of Vergisson was a site for habitation. The material found at Solutré was therefore linked with hunting; many tools were found including the flint
s cut in the shape of bay leaves which are characteristic of Solutrean culture.
Contrary to the legend of the "hunt into the abyss", prehistoric man of Solutré region never hunted horses by driving them off the rock. This theory, which was never brought by Testot-Ferry, in his scientific publications, in fact appeared in Arcelin's prehistory-based novel; it has never been other than a fiction
which caught the popular imagination. The incongruity of this hypothesis was easily shown from the distance between the bones and the summit of the rock, among other considerations.
at Cros du Charnier. In all, by the end of the period of excavations between about 1866 and 1925, almost 70 squelettes had been recovered. Although at the time of the first excavations the corpses were considered as prehistoric (Aurignacian
s and Neolithic
s), it has since become almost certain that some of the skeletons are historical. According to different datings, they appear to be Burgundians
(from the high Middle Ages
) or Merovingians.
Paradoxically, despite the length of time when the site was in use, the Solutrean era was the only period in the Upper Paleolithic from which there are no human remains. Ultimately, one year after the first excavations carried out at the rock, remains of Cro-magnon
man were discovered at Eyzies
by Louis Lartet
. The Cro-magnons were contemporaries of the culture who had cut tools and hunted at Solutré.
Guy Clapot from Strasbourg
, is situated at the foot of the rock. The museum was encouraged by French President François Mitterrand
, and was opened in 1987. Because of regulations in force at the site, the museum lies beneath a dome planted with vegetation, and is hardly visible from a distance. The places where the discoveries were made are presented in the museum along with a reconstructions of scenes from the hunt. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions on subjects related to archeology, prehistory and ethnography
.
s near the rock. One, Solustriacus, gave its name to the village of Solutré. The other would have been situated between the rock and the neighbouring village of Vergisson. A large flattened mound linking the foot of the rock with Vergisson is suggested to be an ancient Roman road, and is referred to as such by locals.
. After the truce signed Mâcon
on 4 December 1434 accepting the Burgundian presence in Mâconnais, this castle
, the only remaining high place in the region not reduced by the Duke of Burgundy, was handed over to him. The following year the Duke, Jean le Bon, ordered the total destruction of the fortress by an act passed at Dijon
on 22 December 1434. There was such popular jubilation at the pronouncement that bodies have been found of participants in the destruction, killed by the disorderly collapse of the walls. Recent research has shown that the castle had been a noble and wealthy dwelling, but few facts are known about its residents.
A high place for the French Resistance
during World War II, the rock was ritually climbed each year by President François Mitterrand
and certain of his friends.
of the original Gaul
ish forest to the plantation of the first vineyards, to contemporary polyculture
and current monoculture
of wine production, the countryside has been shaped and changed.
The clearing at the peak and the soft slopes of the rock have contributed to the appearance and maintenance of a local habitat. In fact, until the middle of the 19th century
, the wives of farmer herded their goats on these parcels of land surrounded by dry stone walls. This pasturing
as well as the practice of burning maintained the dry grass which had developed, hosting numerous rare or protected plant and animal species, who found their most northerly home.
The pelouses calcicoles, also known as pelouses calcaires are also found on four other peaks formed in the same epoch (from north to south: Monsard, Mont de Leynes
, the Rock of Vergisson, and finally Mont de Pouilly to the south of Solutré). They are protecteded under the French protections and sustainable development rules. When pasturing ceased after the Second World War, the area was colonized by boxtree
, juniper
and pedunculate oak.
Flora include inula
, hippocrepis emerus
, Bombycilaena erecta
, wild orchid, hippocrepis comosa. Mountain and Mediterranean species which share the rock include festuca, carex
, bromus
, helianthemum
, silene
, rubia peregrina
, Œillet (which can refer to several species), sesleria caerulea
, sedum
and saxifrage
.
Notable bird
s of the rock include the ortolan bunting
, the scops-owl, the European nightjar
, the short-toed snake eagle, the northern harrier and the woodlark
. Notable insect
s include the scarce swallowtail
, the praying mantis and the Mediterranean cricket
.
, viticulture was practiced in the middle ages by Cluniac monks
and penetrated the perimeter of the rock. Their phases of ebb and flow over the centuries entailed in turn the clearing of plots of land or their abandonment to the countryside. The area's predilection for Chardonnay
has given rise to wines with international reputations:
network in the context of its pelouses calcioles grassland. These protections have turned out to be insufficient in the face of heavy visitation by locals and tourists, and the usure created on the site, and maintenance costs which are too heavy for the local communes.
From the 1990s
the Rock has been officially made the focus of an Operation Grand Site. This law does not add any regulatory constraints but constitutes a tool for restauring and bringing value to the site, setting up a reception, and generating a dynamic local economy and a continuing management of the area.
Since 1995 trials have taken place to maintain the site as is involving e.g. grazing by Konik Polski
horses and fighting colonization by boxtree through pasturing. The pathways have been revised to enhance safety for visitors and to stop the degradation of tracks, the parking lot has made way for a new one, which integrates almost completely with the landscape.
for Bourgogne, in its article on the Rock of Solutré, mistakenly displayed a photograph
of the Rock of Vergisson.
Mâcon
Mâcon is a small city in central France. It is prefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department, in the region of Bourgogne, and the capital of the Mâconnais district. Mâcon is home to over 35,000 residents, called Mâconnais.-Geography:...
overlooking the commune of Solutré-Pouilly
Solutré-Pouilly
Solutré-Pouilly is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France. It is known for a local geological feature, the Rock of Solutré.-Wine:...
and an iconic site of the Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...
, in the south of the Bourgogne
Bourgogne
Burgundy is one of the 27 regions of France.The name comes from the Burgundians, an ancient Germanic people who settled in the area in early Middle-age. The region of Burgundy is both larger than the old Duchy of Burgundy and smaller than the area ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, from the modern...
. Protected by the French law on sites classés and currently at the heart of a Grand Site National operation, it draws its fame severally as a rare geological
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
phenomenon of the region, as a prehistoric site
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
of the eponymous Solutrean paleolithic culture
Solutrean
The Solutrean industry is a relatively advanced flint tool-making style of the Upper Palaeolithic, from around 22,000 to 17,000 BP.-Details:...
, and for the natural environment which it summit provides, the pelouse calciole grassland of Mâcon, with its distinctive flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
and fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
. Occupied by man for at least 55,000 years, it is also the cradle of the Pouilly-Fuissé
Pouilly-Fuissé
Pouilly-Fuissé is an appellation for white wine in the Mâconnais subregion Burgundy in central France, located in the communes of Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly, Vergisson and Chaintré...
wine appellation. It has attracted media coverage since the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
when French President François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
started to make ritual ascents of the peak once per year.
Formation
In the MesozoicMesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
era warm seas extended over the region, of which many fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
remains can be readily observed. The Roche de Solutré, like its neighbour the Rock of Vergisson
Rock of Vergisson
The Rock of Vergisson is a limestone peak in Saône-et-Loire, France.- Geography :The Rock of Vergisson is a sharp escarpment located in the commune of Vergisson in Saône-et-Loire, in the south of Bourgogne. It is less than 2 km as the crow flies from the Rock of Solutré...
, was created from fossilized coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
plateaux which appeared approximately 160 million years ago in these seas.
In the Tertiary era, the east of Bourgogne underwent the effects of the Alpine rising; while the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
grew higher, the Saône
Saône
The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....
basin collapsed. At the same times, plateaux rose in the west of the plain, then rocked towards the east.
These processes had mixed up types of land with different natural composition, and erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
acted on them differently. The shapes of the surrounding mountains became more curved, while the cliffs of Soulutré and Vergisson have emerged on the west side, contrasting with the gentle slopes on their east.
Countryside
Surrounded by vineyards, the rock hosts a varied and spectacular country, from the height of its rocky peak or its grassy slopes. The Saône plain extends to the east, with a view of MâconnaisMâconnais
The Mâconnais district lies in the south of the Burgundy wine region in France, west of the River Saône. It takes its name from the town of Mâcon. It is best known as a source of good value white wines made from the Chardonnay grape; the wines from Pouilly-Fuissé are particularly sought-after....
in the foreground, then Ain and Dombes
Dombes
The Dombes is an area in South-Eastern France, once an independent municipality, formerly part of the province of Burgundy, and now a district comprised in the département of Ain, and bounded W. by the Saône River, by the Rhône, E. by the Ain and N...
against the backdrop of the Alps and Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco , meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...
in good visibility.
In the three other directions the countryside is less open and bounded by the lines and crests of surrounding hills, with vineyards, villages, and typical Mâconnais settlements, in particular:
- to the north among the hills and vineyards, the village of VergissonVergissonVergisson is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.-Wine:The vineyards of Vergisson form part of the appellation d'origine contrôlée Pouilly-Fuissé.-References:*...
and its own outcrop ; - to the west, the Roman roadRoman roadThe Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
, and beyond, a mixed area of vineyards, groves and forests ; - to the south, the village of Solutré-PouillySolutré-PouillySolutré-Pouilly is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France. It is known for a local geological feature, the Rock of Solutré.-Wine:...
and the Mont de Pouilly.
Prehistory
Solutré's remains from prehistoric times are some of the richest in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in bones and stone artifacts. Following their discovery, the Rock gave its name to a culture of the Upper Paleolithic
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of...
, the Solutrean.
Chronology
Excavations at the foot of the rock started in 1866, at the place called the "Cros du Charnier" on the protrusion of horse bones, which no-one imagined at the time would date to prehistory, a science which was only emerging at the time.The zone of Upper Paleolithic homes was quickly discovered by Henry Testot-Ferry
Henry Testot-Ferry
Henry Bernard Alfred Testot-Ferry also known as Henry de Ferry was a French geologist, archeologist and paleontologist...
, along with some tomb
Tomb
A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes...
s of raw slabs. In the homes, numerous flint tools were found, including spear
Spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
-points, choppers
Chopper (archaeology)
Archaeologists define a chopper as a pebble tool with an irregular cutting edge formed through the removal of flakes from one side of a stone....
and other scrapers, and also a large hoard of bones, mainly from reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
but also from horse, elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
, wolf and cave tiger.
Testot-Ferry and Adrien Arcelin decided to to see if they could determine scientifically how large the deposit was that they had brought to light, and to examine with great care the remains that they had recovered. The challenge was to understand the arrangement of stratigraphic
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....
areas of the site, which would be the basis for establishing a chronology
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
.
In 1868, the existence of a station for foot-based hunters was the preferred scientific hypothesis. The two discoverers called on specialists and presented their work at conferences. Solutré was revealed as one of the greatest prehistoric sites in France.
In 1872, Gabriel de Mortillet, on of the most important prehistorians of his time, decided to name prehistoric periods after sites where they were particularly well presented. Thus the term "Solutrean" was born.
Numerous excavations were conducted thereafter. The excavation site remains protected, and partially unexplored, to this day.
Hunting site
The height of the sites in relation to the flood plain was the most important factor for human habitation. Providing shelter and food for migrant groups, the foot of the rock, strewn with debris, afforded hunters the opportunity to develop traps.The bone-laden magma can be explained by the fact that the site was used by four great paleolithic civilizations over the 25,000 years from 35,000 to 10,000 B.C, an extremely long time period.
The use of this site was therefore devoted to hunting activity, butchering and smoking meat, while the neighbouring Rock of Vergisson was a site for habitation. The material found at Solutré was therefore linked with hunting; many tools were found including the flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
s cut in the shape of bay leaves which are characteristic of Solutrean culture.
Contrary to the legend of the "hunt into the abyss", prehistoric man of Solutré region never hunted horses by driving them off the rock. This theory, which was never brought by Testot-Ferry, in his scientific publications, in fact appeared in Arcelin's prehistory-based novel; it has never been other than a fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
which caught the popular imagination. The incongruity of this hypothesis was easily shown from the distance between the bones and the summit of the rock, among other considerations.
Human remains
Testot-Ferry and Arcelin also brought to light some human remainsHuman Remains
Human Remains is a British black comedy television series written by and starring Rob Brydon and Julia Davis. It consisted of six episodes that aired in 2000. Each episode documented the relationship of a different couple, all of whom were played by Brydon and Davis and all but two of whom were...
at Cros du Charnier. In all, by the end of the period of excavations between about 1866 and 1925, almost 70 squelettes had been recovered. Although at the time of the first excavations the corpses were considered as prehistoric (Aurignacian
Aurignacian
The Aurignacian culture is an archaeological culture of the Upper Palaeolithic, located in Europe and southwest Asia. It lasted broadly within the period from ca. 45,000 to 35,000 years ago in terms of conventional radiocarbon dating, or between ca. 47,000 and 41,000 years ago in terms of the most...
s and Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
s), it has since become almost certain that some of the skeletons are historical. According to different datings, they appear to be Burgundians
Burgundians
The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...
(from the high Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
) or Merovingians.
Paradoxically, despite the length of time when the site was in use, the Solutrean era was the only period in the Upper Paleolithic from which there are no human remains. Ultimately, one year after the first excavations carried out at the rock, remains of Cro-magnon
Cro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
man were discovered at Eyzies
Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil
Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil lies in the Périgord Noir area. It is served by the Gare des Eyzies railroad station...
by Louis Lartet
Louis Lartet
Louis Lartet was a French geologist and paleontologist. He discovered the original Cro-Magnon skeletons.Louis Lartet was born in Castelnau-Magnoac, in Seissan in the département of Gers...
. The Cro-magnons were contemporaries of the culture who had cut tools and hunted at Solutré.
Museum
The departmental history museum, a structure designed by the architectArchitect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Guy Clapot from Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, is situated at the foot of the rock. The museum was encouraged by French President François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, and was opened in 1987. Because of regulations in force at the site, the museum lies beneath a dome planted with vegetation, and is hardly visible from a distance. The places where the discoveries were made are presented in the museum along with a reconstructions of scenes from the hunt. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions on subjects related to archeology, prehistory and ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
.
From antiquity to the modern day
The rock's surroundings have been occupied continuously since pre-history, each epoch leaving its mark although sometimes almost invisible to the naked eye.Antiquity
Traces have been discovered of two important Gallo-Roman villaRoman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
s near the rock. One, Solustriacus, gave its name to the village of Solutré. The other would have been situated between the rock and the neighbouring village of Vergisson. A large flattened mound linking the foot of the rock with Vergisson is suggested to be an ancient Roman road, and is referred to as such by locals.
Post-antiquity
In the middle ages, the Rock of Solutré was a powerful high point, reputed to be the domain of banditsBandits
Bandits is a 2001 American crime-comedy drama film directed by Barry Levinson. It stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. Filming began in October 2000 and ended in February 2001. It helped Thornton earn a National Board of Review Best Actor Award for 2001...
. After the truce signed Mâcon
Mâcon
Mâcon is a small city in central France. It is prefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department, in the region of Bourgogne, and the capital of the Mâconnais district. Mâcon is home to over 35,000 residents, called Mâconnais.-Geography:...
on 4 December 1434 accepting the Burgundian presence in Mâconnais, this castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
, the only remaining high place in the region not reduced by the Duke of Burgundy, was handed over to him. The following year the Duke, Jean le Bon, ordered the total destruction of the fortress by an act passed at Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
on 22 December 1434. There was such popular jubilation at the pronouncement that bodies have been found of participants in the destruction, killed by the disorderly collapse of the walls. Recent research has shown that the castle had been a noble and wealthy dwelling, but few facts are known about its residents.
A high place for the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
during World War II, the rock was ritually climbed each year by President François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
and certain of his friends.
A particular habitat: the pelouses calcicoles of Mâconnais
Human activities on and around the rock have had a visible impact on its profile. From the deforestationDeforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
of the original Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
ish forest to the plantation of the first vineyards, to contemporary polyculture
Polyculture
Polyculture is agriculture using multiple crops in the same space, in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems, and avoiding large stands of single crops, or monoculture...
and current monoculture
Monoculture
Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area. It is also known as a way of farming practice of growing large stands of a single species. It is widely used in modern industrial agriculture and its implementation has allowed for large harvests from...
of wine production, the countryside has been shaped and changed.
The clearing at the peak and the soft slopes of the rock have contributed to the appearance and maintenance of a local habitat. In fact, until the middle of the 19th century
19th century
The 19th century was a period in history marked by the collapse of the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Holy Roman and Mughal empires...
, the wives of farmer herded their goats on these parcels of land surrounded by dry stone walls. This pasturing
Pasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
as well as the practice of burning maintained the dry grass which had developed, hosting numerous rare or protected plant and animal species, who found their most northerly home.
The pelouses calcicoles, also known as pelouses calcaires are also found on four other peaks formed in the same epoch (from north to south: Monsard, Mont de Leynes
Leynes
Leynes is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.-References:*...
, the Rock of Vergisson, and finally Mont de Pouilly to the south of Solutré). They are protecteded under the French protections and sustainable development rules. When pasturing ceased after the Second World War, the area was colonized by boxtree
Buxus
Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood ....
, juniper
Juniper
Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...
and pedunculate oak.
Flora include inula
Inula
Inula is a large genus of about 90 species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe, Asia and Africa. The genus is thought by some to be paraphyletic, based on the study of the different phenolic compounds the various species have.They are mostly perennial herbs that vary...
, hippocrepis emerus
Hippocrepis emerus
Hippocrepis emerus, common name: Scorpion Senna, is a perennial plant belonging to the genus Hippocrepis of the Fabaceae family.-Description:...
, Bombycilaena erecta
Bombycilaena
Bombycilaena is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family....
, wild orchid, hippocrepis comosa. Mountain and Mediterranean species which share the rock include festuca, carex
Carex
Carex is a genus of plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges. Other members of the Cyperaceae family are also called sedges, however those of genus Carex may be called "true" sedges, and it is the most species-rich genus in the family. The study of Carex is known as...
, bromus
Bromus
Bromus is a large genus of the grass family . Estimates in the scientific literature of the number of species have ranged from 100 to 400, but plant taxonomists currently recognize around 160–170 species...
, helianthemum
Helianthemum
Helianthemum , known as rock rose, sunroses, or rushrose, is a genus of about 110 species of evergreen or semi-evergreen subshrubs in the family Cistaceae...
, silene
Silene
Silene is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. Common names include campion and catchfly....
, rubia peregrina
Rubiá
aRubiá is a municipality in the Spanish province of Ourense. It has a population of 1734 and an area of 101 km²....
, Œillet (which can refer to several species), sesleria caerulea
Sesleria caerulea
Sesleria caerulea is a species of perennial grass in the Poaceae family, native to Europe.- References :* * * Animadv. bot. spec. alt. 2:18, t. 6, fig. 3-5. 1764...
, sedum
Sedum
Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. It contains around 400 species of leaf succulents that are found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, varying from annual and creeping herbs to shrubs. The plants have...
and saxifrage
Saxifrage
Saxifraga is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 440 species of Holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages. The Latin word saxifraga means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin + ...
.
Notable bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s of the rock include the ortolan bunting
Ortolan Bunting
The Ortolan, or Ortolan Bunting, Emberiza hortulana, is a bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a passerine family now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae...
, the scops-owl, the European nightjar
European Nightjar
The European Nightjar, or just Nightjar, Caprimulgus europaeus, is the only representative of the nightjar family of birds in most of Europe and temperate Asia.- Habitat and distribution :...
, the short-toed snake eagle, the northern harrier and the woodlark
Woodlark
The Woodlark is the only lark in the genus Lullula. It breeds across most of Europe, the Middle East Asia and the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations of this passerine bird are more migratory, moving further south in winter...
. Notable insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s include the scarce swallowtail
Scarce Swallowtail
The Scarce Swallowtail is a Palearctic swallowtail butterfly found in gardens, fields and open woodlands. First described by Linnaeus in 1758, it is found in places with sloe thickets and particularly orchards. It is also called Sail Swallowtail or Pear-tree Swallowtail...
, the praying mantis and the Mediterranean cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
.
Viticulture
Introduced by the RomansAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, viticulture was practiced in the middle ages by Cluniac monks
Cluniac Reforms
The Cluniac Reforms were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of West focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement is named for the Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, where it started within the Benedictine order. The reforms were...
and penetrated the perimeter of the rock. Their phases of ebb and flow over the centuries entailed in turn the clearing of plots of land or their abandonment to the countryside. The area's predilection for Chardonnay
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...
has given rise to wines with international reputations:
- Mâcon-Solutré (Mâcon-Villages)
- Saint-VéranSaint-Véran AOCSaint-Véran is an Appelation d'Origine Contrôlée for white Burgundy wine from the Mâconnais subregion, located in the department of Saône-et-Loire.- Geographical description :...
- Pouilly-FuisséPouilly-FuisséPouilly-Fuissé is an appellation for white wine in the Mâconnais subregion Burgundy in central France, located in the communes of Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly, Vergisson and Chaintré...
Protection and sustainable development
The Rock had been partially protected by the law of 2 May 1930 on the protection of natural monuments and sites of artistic, historic, legendary or picturesque character, by virtue of the its spectacular aspect and the archeological sites which it sheltered, and was part of the Natura 2000Natura 2000
Natura 2000 is an ecological network of protected areas in the territory of the European Union.-Origins:In May 1992, the governments of the European Communities adopted legislation designed to protect the most seriously threatened habitats and species across Europe. This legislation is called the...
network in the context of its pelouses calcioles grassland. These protections have turned out to be insufficient in the face of heavy visitation by locals and tourists, and the usure created on the site, and maintenance costs which are too heavy for the local communes.
From the 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
the Rock has been officially made the focus of an Operation Grand Site. This law does not add any regulatory constraints but constitutes a tool for restauring and bringing value to the site, setting up a reception, and generating a dynamic local economy and a continuing management of the area.
Since 1995 trials have taken place to maintain the site as is involving e.g. grazing by Konik Polski
Konik
The Konik or Polish primitive horse is a small horse, a kind of semi-feral horse, originating in Poland. The Polish word konik is the diminutive of koń, the Polish word for "horse" . However, the name "konik" or "Polish konik" is used to refer to certain specific breeds...
horses and fighting colonization by boxtree through pasturing. The pathways have been revised to enhance safety for visitors and to stop the degradation of tracks, the parking lot has made way for a new one, which integrates almost completely with the landscape.
Anecdotes
The 2009 Michelin guideMichelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
for Bourgogne, in its article on the Rock of Solutré, mistakenly displayed a photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
of the Rock of Vergisson.
Well-known quotations concerning the rock
- Sphinx aux griffes plantées dans les ceps (A SphinxSphinxA sphinx is a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head or a cat head.The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless...
with claws planted in the vines) - Deux navires pétrifiés surplombant une mer de vignes (Two petrified ships overlooking a sea of vineyards) Alphonse de LamartineAlphonse de LamartineAlphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...
, speaking of the two rocks of Solutré Vergisson - De là, j'observe ce qui va, ce qui vient, ce qui bouge et surtout ce qui ne bouge pas. (From there, I watch that which goes, that which comes, that which moves, and overall that which does not move) François Mitterrand in La Paille et le Grain, 1978.
See also
France's Grands Sites network Definition of an Opération Grand site (OGS) on the French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development Website- Head-Smashed-In Buffalo JumpHead-Smashed-In Buffalo JumpHead-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a buffalo jump located where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains begin to rise from the prairie 18 km northwest of Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada on highway 785...