Timeline

Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The engraved rock of Fornols is an exceptional rock art site located in Campôme, in the Pyrénées-Orientales. It is 2.30 m high and 3.90 m wide, with 17 animal representations (bouquetins, isards, birds) and 23 geometric figures, attributed to the final Magdalenian. This site is the only known evidence of open-air rock art of Paleolithic in France, and one of the few in Europe with the sites of the valley of Coa (Portugal) and Siega Verde (Spain).

Discovered in 1983 by Jean Abélanet, then curator of the Tautavel museum, the rock was studied by prehistorian Dominique Sacchi, who made the surveys and casts. The engravings, stylistically dated from the recent Magdalenian, include local species such as the bouquetin des Pyrénées and the isard, as well as two birds identified as a vulture and a castagneous grebe.

The rock was added to the additional inventory of historic monuments in 1990, and was classified on February 26, 2008. Today it belongs to the municipality of Campôme. Its discovery has enriched knowledge of paleolithic rock art in Europe, often associated with caves, while Fornols is a rare example of open-air art.

Studies published by Dominique Sacchi, notably in L'Anthropologie (1988) and the Friends of the National Museum of Natural History (2010), highlight the scientific importance of the site. The engravings, made on an open-air rock, offer an overview of the artistic and symbolic practices of hunter-gatherers of the Upper Paleolithic in the Mediterranean Pyrenees.

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