Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Lazaret Cave, located at the foot of Mount Boron in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), is a major prehistoric site of Middle Paleolithic, classified as a Historic Monument in 1963. Discovered in 1826, it was systematically searched from 1950 under the direction of François Octobon, then by Henry de Lumley from 1962. Archaeological campaigns, stopped in 2014, exhumed an 8 metre stratigraphy attributed to the recent Middle Pleistocene (130,000 to 170,000 years), delivering lithic tools, wildlife remains (cerf, ibex, elephant) and human remains, including a fragment of a child's skull.

Lithic industries, originally associated with the Upper Achulean, actually reveal Levallois and discoid cutting techniques, typical of the Middle Paleolithic. The materials used (calcareous, flint, jasper) come from local or distant sources. Discovery wildlife includes herbivores (aurochs, woolly rhinoceros) and carnivores (loup, panther), as well as marine shells, suggesting a variety of resource exploitation by occupants, probably hunter-gatherers.

The site is famous for the controversial reconstruction of a "cabin" proposed by Henry de Lumley in 1969, based on a stone belt interpreted as a habitat structure. This hypothesis, calling into question by taphonomical arguments (mixing stratigraphic levels) and methodological (drilling bias), is now widely contested. Critics point to the lack of clear evidence to distinguish in situ stones from displaced stones, and the possible natural explanation of their concentration (collapses of the vault).

The cave, owned by the Alpes-Maritimes department, was set up as a visiting site in 2017. His study was conducted by prestigious institutions such as the Institute of Human Paleontology (Fondation Albert I of Monaco) and the National Museum of Natural History. Scientific publications, including those of Henry of Lumley and Paolo Villa, make it a reference for understanding the lifestyles of the first inhabitants of Europe during the Pleistocene.

Human remains, though fragmentary (dents, child parietal), confirm an ancient human presence in the region. Tools, dominated by scrapers and denticles, and wildlife remains (including carnivores such as lynx) inform the livelihood strategies and environment of prehistoric groups. The cave also illustrates the methodological debates in archaeology, between functional interpretations and scientific rigour.

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