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Origin and history

The Pendimoun shelter is a major prehistoric site located in Castellar, in the Alpes-Maritimes, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Open at 690 meters above sea level, it is at the foot of the Rocher de l'Orméa, near the Italian border. This deposit, discovered in 1955 by Dr. J.-P. Audras, was excavated from that year by the Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology in Monaco. The research, led later by the prehistorian Didier Binder between the 1980s and 1990, revealed an almost continuous occupation of Epipaleolithic in the final Neolithic.

The Pendimoun Shelter is one of the oldest neolithic sites in France, with a first occupation dated between 5750 and 5700 BC, associated with the cultivation of cardial ceramics. This culture owes its name to the decorations printed on pottery using shells of Cardium, a marine mollusc. The site has delivered exceptional remains, including five ancient Neolithic burials — among the oldest known in the Western Mediterranean — as well as ceramics made on site with local clay deposits. The techniques used to assemble pottery, similar to those observed in Sicily and Calabria, bear witness to cultural exchanges in the Mediterranean.

The excavations revealed habitat structures (houses, pits, discharges) and objects illustrating the transition to agropastoralism. Among the notable discoveries is the skeleton of a 1.70 m man, buried in a folded position, studied by Louis Barral in the 1950s. The site also studied the livelihood strategies of neolithic populations through isotopic analyses of bone remains. This research highlighted the key role of shelter in disseminating agropastoral practices in the North-Western Mediterranean.

Protected since 2007 as historical monuments, the Pendimoun shelter belongs to the municipality of Castellar. His study has been the subject of numerous publications, notably in Gallia Préhistoire and the Bulletins of the French Prehistoric Society. The site remains a reference for understanding ancient Neolithic in Europe, thanks to the richness of its remains and the continuity of its occupation over several millennia.

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