Introduction
Mont Bégo (Mount Bego) is a 9,423 40 m high mountain in southeastern France. It is also in the southwestern Alps. The Mediterranean Sea is XNUMX km away. Tourists appreciate the surreal landscape. Geologists are studying the strange shape. Archaeologists are studying the prehistoric rock carvings in the rock. This site has the largest collection of them in Europe.
3 large valleys surround Mont Bégo. They are:Fontanalbe, Minière and Vallée des Merveilles. The height of the peaks here rises between 2,500 and 3,000 masl. The valleys appeared in the last prehistoric ice age (up to 11,000 4+ years earlier). They are available on foot for XNUMX months of the year.
The first story about Mont Bégo comes in 1 from a French doctor, François-Emmanuel Fodéré. Prehistoric people have known about Mont Bégo for millennia. We will see stories both from within and without. In addition, both natural and human prehistoric forces shaped this place far beyond.
Prehistoric writing on the wall
We begin with a brief overview of the petroglyphs. They're what people think most about Mont Bégo. There are many types of petroglyphs. The strange thing is that they do not portray more than a few themes.
Most are 0.5 to 5 mm deep. Prehistoric engravers preferred the flattest and smoothest surfaces. Using stone tools, they dug micro-cupule holes to remove the red stone surface. Some believe the glyphs came from a short, persistent prehistoric period. Others say that the tradition has been continued far longer than we thought.
Prehistoric bulls
The most iconic petroglyphs look like beef heads. Scientists call them corniform petroglyphs. They are 46% of the total, and 76% of "parables". A minority of them are "yoke". The bull's head has a simple shape. Horns appear from the head.
Geometric works
Geometric works show contours of complex shapes. There are 3 main types:ray (suns), closed (shapes) and net-shaped (lattice-like). Later we will go through the details of the last of these. Some assume that they depict shared fields. Some would have had streams flowing through them.
Other reticulated petroglyphs depict house layouts. All of these mentioned human events would have followed geomancy. The sacred demarcation of space persists for millennia. That's how prehistoric chaos becomes cosmic space.
Geometric figures make up a smaller percentage of the total number (7-12.5%). They may be among the oldest petroglyphs here.
Prehistoric weapons / tools
Some petroglyphs show weapons. The two most common weapons are prehistoric halberds and daggers. The latter helped researchers date the petroglyphs. Scientists compared them to known metal weapons from other prehistoric cultures. These make up 2-4% of the engravings.
Anthropomorphic depictions
The rarest class of petroglyphs are "active" humanoids. They have raised their arms, held a weapon or other object. We'll look at one of them later. It is known as the "wizard". Scientists named the most special humanoid petroglyphs "Christ". The face evokes sympathies of severe pain and conviction.
Non-representative glyphs
A significant part of the engravings are cup-shaped markings. They can be alone or in groups. Most have no visible place in the above classes. Some of them may be incomplete petroglyphs. Some may be "drafts".
This is uncertain. Others believe the draft involved a complete outline before engraving.
Some researchers have identified a few petroglyphs as sundials. In addition to this, the old pastoralist engraved on Mont Bégo for protection? Just decoration? Information? We could handle these issues only for Mont Bégo. But we end up looking for answers throughout prehistoric Europe.
Geology
Vallée des Merveilles (Valley of Wonders) rises to 2,000 and 2,500 meters above sea level. This puts it in "medium" and "high" range. The surrounding massifs of the valley run northwest and southeast. These massifs have metamorphic and granitic rocks.
Carbon and Pliocene sedimentary rocks rest on top. These include conglomerates, sandstones, arkos and mudstones. This area has a messy geological history. One can find several kinds of stones there. Both tectonic and glaciers shaped the valley of amazing wonders.
Glacial effects
Going back 20,000 XNUMX years brings us to the last ice maximum. Then, glaciers reached the bottom of Mont Bégo. These glaciers came from the Valley of Wonders and the Minière Valley. They left behind Permian boulders. The longest and narrowest valley is the Minière Valley. The two highest mountains above it are Grand Capelet and Mont Bégo. There is an abundance of cirques (round, deep pools) throughout this valley. Cirques dot nearby valleys.
As the glaciers melted, the exposed rocks underwent oxidation. They turned red. Bronze Age artists carved through the red surface. This is why their rock carvings have a different color than the surrounding stone. The oldest engravings have since been patina.
vegetation
In 1868, an English botanist named MFGS Moggridge visited Mont Bégo. He was the first to describe the petroglyphs as prehistoric. The prehistorian Emile Rivière continued his work in 1877. In 1885, another botanist named Clarence Bicknell studied the valley flora. He ended up doing a lot of petroglyph research at Mount Bégo.
Let's go back to 9,000 11,000 BC. (~ 2,400 2,872 BP). After the Late Glacier, lakes formed, plants grew and peat emerged. The first vegetation near Mont Bégo was a kind of steppe (Old Dryas). Junipers and pine trees followed. These forests did not grow above XNUMX masl. This height has the greatest focus for engravings. It is close to the foot of Mont Bégo (XNUMX XNUMX masl). Later, a cold spell killed some plants (Younger Dryas).
There is evidence of pastoral activity between 3,500 and 3,000BP.
The next "underground" period had grass and plains. Humans cut down large larch forests during this time. Near 1500 BC. agriculture expanded with grain. In the summer, people settled on the lower slopes of Mont Bégo.
Human activity
First reviews
People crossed the valleys around Mont Bégo long before the Neolithic. After the glaciers melted, people crossed mountain passes between valleys. By the Paleolithic, humans reached the Po River plain north, and the Mediterranean Sea south.
Major excavations on Mont Bégo began in the 1940s under Carlo Conti. He examined over 30,000 XNUMX petroglyphs. In addition, he drew the first archaeological map of Mont Bégo.
Prehistoric shelters
An operation in 1942 revealed "gias del Ciari". A gias is an alpine mountain shelter with a livestock enclosure. Later excavations in the 90s found flint cores. These suggest that humans arrived in Mont Bégo around 9000 BC. (~ 11,000 XNUMX BP). This was the time when glaciers melted into lakes.
The operations found gias with Cardial ceramics. They show early Neolithic activity near Mont Bégo beginning near 5500-5300 BC. (~ 7,500 BP). Other ceramics in the giases are dated to Bell Beaker (2350-2100BC / 4,150BP). There was material and cultural exchange over the southwestern Alps.
Prehistoric grazing sheep
During the summer months, transhuman shepherds gathered on Mont Bégo to feed their sheep. In the summer, artists carved the famous rock carvings that adorn the mountains. Their preferred time period was the summer solstice until mid-September. When winter came, the shepherds left Mont Bégo.
I was here.
Suitable drawing themes and surfaces
Prehistoric visitors enjoyed Permian pelite and sandstone. These were easier to engrave. Glaciers had polished them. Such rocks include fine-grained schistose and pelitic rocks. Some areas are smooth and flat. Others have grooves and scars.
This is the practical side of choosing a "canvas". Others believe the artists chose locations through divination. An example might be engraving where lightning struck. The artists made the most famous rock carvings on Permian rocks. An example is the Sorcier (The Wizard) petroglyph.
We mentioned researchers from the 19th century who expanded our knowledge of Mont Bégo. There's another, newer one:Henry de Lumley. From 1967 he worked with systematic plotting of all petroglyphs.
There are 2 main types of engraved petroglyphs on Mont Bégo. They are "chopped" and "incised". Most research focuses on chopped engravings. Most petroglyphs belong to one of the few recurring motifs. These motifs include oxen, weapons, people and other charts. This may mean that engraving these glyphs was an important ritual.
Distribution of prehistoric engravings
Researchers discuss life expectancy for petroglyph activity on Mont Bégo. In addition, there is a constant search for patterns in the location of glyphs. Some even believe that the characters represent early writing.
Researchers have found links between the engravings and their nearby geography. Les Merveilles and Fontanalbe show interesting locations of engravings. For a fun fact, 1317 stones have 1 engraving. At the same time, 1 rock has 1377 engravings. They consist of "fringed" figures, "horned" figures and "halberds".
Which are the oldest? Where are they?
They found fringe figures far from the densest collection in the valley center. Fringed figures, with "reticulated" figures, are among the oldest. These engravings have the strongest relationship to geography. They are found closest to old streams and pastoral walkways at lower altitudes. These were the only ways to cross valleys.
In Les Merveilles we find many engravings on top of rocks. In addition, most face south, regardless of geography. There are not many more bands that scientists can detect yet with certainty.
Roche de l'Aute - «Alterklippen»
The base of Mont Bégo (2318-2335 masl) has a rock called Roche de l'Aute. The rock is about 60 m long and 30 m wide. Bicknell called it "Alterklippen". This stone seemed to be more sacred than others. It has the largest number of engravings of any stone there. Hundreds of figures and dagger motifs decorate it. A hill divides this rock into northern and southern halves. In addition, an orange patina covers this stone.
Why is "Sacred Rock" sacred?
There is no sure reason why Roche de l'Aute has the most engravings. Some say that the view from Roche de l'Aute is the most spectacular in the area. This could have motivated ancient artists to focus their work on this stone. But the view from other rocks is comparable. Roche de l'Aute has a unique triangular shape.
There are specific patterns on the Roche de l'Aute. Reticulated figures come before daggers and horned figures. Reticulated figures cling to the south sides. In contrast, horny figures cluster and stab themselves on the northern faces. In addition, the oldest engravings gather closer to the mountain edge.
Dagger engravings are the most effective index for relative dating. Scientists matched them with calcolitic copper and early bronze daggers. These daggers appear in many places around the Mediterranean. Based on this, scientists point to the engraving at Mount Bégoto 4,000 BP. This means around 3200 and 1700 BC
Where do the knives point?
The dagger bodies at Mount Bégo can represent real metal blades. These leaves may have come from the nearby metalworking Rinaldone culture. This culture flourished in northern Italy.
On the other hand, the dagger engravings can be symbolic. Geospatial analysis allows researchers to test hypotheses. More analysis has not yet been done on the Fontanalbe Valley. So far, the oldest engravings cluster on the lower, southern mountain edges. Finding more patterns depends as much on today's human choices as on the past.
Prehistoric belief:da vs. now
We are not the first to fumble with the code. Seneca was a Roman philosopher and statesman from the first century. He contrasted his "modern Rome" with archaic mountain cultures.
"While we, the Romans, believe that lightning is triggered as a result of the collision of clouds, the ancients believed that clouds collide to release lightning, because as they attribute everything to the deity, they are led to believe that things have no meaning. to the extent that they arise, but rather that they arise because they must have a meaning. "~ Seneca the Younger.
The prehistoric peoples of Mont Bégo may have been a similar population. The petroglyphs prove the awareness of a natural whole. Sun, storms, sheep and rocks formed the Mont Bégo cosmos.
The unknown scares some ...
Medieval Europeans knew about these petroglyphs. At the time, they thought of Mont Bégo as cursed and demonic. They thought the place was near hell. In addition, people from distinctive Christian sects visited the area. Inquisitors burned them at Mount Bégo for their faith. A few medieval visitors engraved their own glyphs.
In the 1460s, Pierre de Montfort visited the place himself. He said this about it in his travelogue.
"It was an infernal place with figures of the devil and a thousand demons everywhere carved into the rocks ... But for a little while my soul would have failed me!" ~ Pierre de Montfort (1460).
... and awaken others.
The locals called the Valley of Wonders so for its amazing thunderstorms. "Merveilles" is closer in the sense of the supernatural. It can even mean "fairy-like". Farmers nearby thought the valley was amazing.
The Valley of Wonders and the Fontanalbe are archeological sites. Each valley has around 2,000 engraved stones and 10,000 XNUMX "chopped" engravings. There are several engravings of other kinds at Mount Bégo. Some people think the old place would look like the modern place.
Reconstructing archaic perceptions is a constant challenge. It requires total defamiliarization of secular vs. holy. To think effectively about Mont Bégo, we must reopen cosmology. Curiosity is the common thread. Both a modern scientist and "Bégo Man" would understand the quest to know.
How far can we go back?
There is an old legend about the Fontanalbe Valley. It conveys the prehistoric, primary urge to fight the forces of nature in order to survive.
An ancient young shepherd learned that the sun spends the night in the spirit world. This did not satisfy him. He wanted to see the sun rise from the holiest peak (Mont Bégo). But as he climbed, he felt tormented by guilt and "sin."
He stumbled and fell to his death. The snow that made it difficult for people to retrieve his body. A miraculous, flickering light kept its place known at Mount Bégo. This spring they did not find the boy. They found a vengeful woman. She led them to the place of death. A new stream ran where before there was none. The surrounding area was enriched with beautiful flora.
Cultural significance in prehistoric anthropology
Once in a while the earth sways like a carefree shepherd boy. Sometimes it stumbles away from the sun. When this happens, the soil is partially knocked out cold.
For hundreds of thousands of years, Mount Bégo was dead. It was buried under prehistoric glaciers. When the last ice peak came with spring, new life appeared. In the time since, both magic and science have flourished. In the present, we have the experience of all our ancestors to use both. We can continue to explore whole valleys of wonder and wonder.
Works Cited
de Grazia, A.-M. (nd). Petroglyphs of Mount Bégo . 40,000 14 petroglyphs of Mount Bego and the Valley of Marvels. Retrieved 2022 February XNUMX from https://q-mag.org/the-petroglyphs-of-mount-bego.html
https://q-mag.org/the-petroglyphs-of-mount-bego.html
Huet, Thomas and Nicoletta Bianchi. "A study of Roche de l'Autels chopped engravings, Les Merveilles sector, Mont Bego area (Alpes-Maritimes, France)." Journal of Archaeological Science, Reporter 5 (2016):105–118. Web.
J. Arts rupestres - anthropology - archeoastronomy. Opened 16 February 2022. http://art-rupestre.chez-alice.fr/publications/publicationmontbegoenglish.htm.
http://art-rupestre.chez-alice.fr/publications/publicationmontbegoenglish.htm
Magail J., Simon P. (2014) Glacial Landscapes and Protohistoric Cultural Heritage of the Mount Bego Region, Southern French Alps. In:Fort M., André MF. (red) Landscapes and Landforms of France. The geomorphological landscape of the world. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi-org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/10.1007/978-94-007-7022-5_21