Protected by the French law on sites naturels 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 its summit provides, the pelouse calciole grassland of Mâcon, with its distinctive flora and fauna. Occupied by humans 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.
Physical setting
Geology
During the Mesozoic era, warm seas covered the region, as evidenced by the plentiful fossils to be found there. The Rock of Solutré, like its neighbour the Rock of Vergisson, was created from fossilized coral plateaus that developed approximately 160 million years ago in these seas.
In the Cenozoic era, eastern Burgundy underwent the effects of the alpine rising; while the Alps grew higher, the Saône basin sank. At the same time, plateaus rose in the west of the plain, then tumbled towards the east.
As these processes brought together landforms of differing natural composition,
monadnocks
on the west side that contrast with gentle slopes on the 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
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 Vergisson and its own outcrop ;
to the west, the
Roman road
, and beyond, a mixed area of vineyards, groves and forests ;
Solutré's remains from prehistoric times are some of the richest in Europe in bones and stone artifacts. Following their discovery, the Rock gave its name to a culture of the Upper Paleolithic, the Solutrean.
Chronology
Excavations at the foot of the rock started in 1866, in a place knowns as the "Cros du Charnier", on a protrusion of horse bones, which no one imagined at the time would date to prehistory, as archeology was just emerging as a scientific field at the time.
The zone of Upper Paleolithic homes was soon discovered by
flint tools were found, including spear-points, choppers and other scrapers, and also a large hoard of bones, mainly from reindeer
, but also from horses, mammoths, wolves, and cave tigers.
Testot-Ferry and Adrien Arcelin decided 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 preferred scientific hypothesis viewed the site as a hunting station. 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, one 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,