Abri sous roche dénommé La Vieille Eglise
Monument
Abri sous roche dénommé La Vieille Eglise, located in La Balme-de-Thuy (Département 74), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- La Balme-de-Thuy, Département 74, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 45.9021, 6.2852
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00118362
Carved into the limestone cliffs of the Bornes region, this rock shelter was inhabited continuously from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age, revealing ten millennia of human presence at the gateway to the Savoy Alps.
History
Nestling in the limestone foothills of the Bornes massif, on the edge of the village of La Balme-de-Thuy, the rock shelter known as "La Vieille Église" is one of the most eloquent reminders of Alpine prehistory in Haute-Savoie. Its popular name, which evokes a religious building, betrays the long memory of the local inhabitants: the cave served as a meeting place, perhaps even a place of worship, long before the appearance of Christianity in these valleys. What makes this site truly exceptional is the dizzying continuity of its human occupation. From the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age, via the Chalcolithic and full Neolithic periods, successive generations found natural protection from the Alpine winters beneath this stone vault. The stratigraphic layers of soil, accumulated over several millennia, form a veritable buried history book that archaeologists have begun to decipher. Visiting the shelter offers a rare experience: that of standing exactly where Mesolithic hunter-gatherers stood, then Neolithic shepherds driving their flocks to the surrounding mountain pastures, then Chalcolithic craftsmen mastering the first metal alloys. In places, the rock face bears the scars of this past, with the blackening of ancient hearths and the diggings and rudimentary structures that bear witness to an ingenious adaptation to the parent rock. The natural setting amplifies the heritage emotion. The shelter is set in a landscape of wooded cliffs and Alpine meadows that has hardly changed at all since the end of the Palaeolithic period. Around La Balme-de-Thuy, the Fier valley and the limestone relief of the Bornes create an environment that is both wild and accessible, ideal for hikers wishing to combine geological discovery with prehistoric immersion.
Architecture
The La Vieille Église rock shelter is a natural formation carved out of the limestone mass of the Savoyard Pre-Alps, typical of the "rock shelter" cliffs found throughout the Bornes and Parmelan areas. The vault, shaped by differential erosion of the Jurassic limestone, overhangs a naturally flat or slightly outward-sloping surface, offering an estimated living area of several dozen square metres - a classic configuration for this type of prehistoric Alpine site. The architecture here is not that of a human builder, but that of time and water: the limestone strata, with their leached clay joints, have given way under the pressure of freezing and thawing to form this natural porch opening onto the valley. The walls, made of greyish to beige limestone, preserve the blackish traces of the fireplaces lit by successive generations of occupants, forming an archaeological patina that can be seen by the trained eye. Collapsed blocks of the ceiling, embedded in the sedimentary layers of the floor, bear witness to climatic fluctuations after the Last Glacial Maximum. The human features found on comparable sites - post supports for light walls made of skin or wood, stone-lined fireplaces, storage pits - do not alter the overall morphology of the cave, but reveal a remarkable ability to adapt. The orientation of the shelter, probably facing south or south-east to maximise winter sunshine, reflects a bioclimatic logic that the prehistorians had perfectly integrated into their choice of location.
Related Figures
Chasseurs-cueilleurs mésolithiques des Préalpes (vers 9 000-6 000 av. J.-C.), premiers occupants identifiés de l'abriCommunautés néolithiques de l'arc alpin (vers 5 500-3 500 av. J.-C.), introductrices de l'agriculture dans la vallée du FierArtisans chalcolithiques (vers 3 500-2 000 av. J.-C.), acteurs des premiers réseaux d'échange métallurgique trans-alpinsPasteurs de l'âge du Bronze alpin (vers 2 000-750 av. J.-C.), derniers occupants préhistoriques documentés du siteChercheurs et préhistoriens savoyards du XXe siècle ayant signalé et documenté le site avant son classement en 1979
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Abri sous roche dénommé La Vieille Eglise located?
Abri sous roche dénommé La Vieille Eglise is located in La Balme-de-Thuy, Département 74 department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, France.
Is Abri sous roche dénommé La Vieille Eglise open to visitors?
Abri sous roche dénommé La Vieille Eglise is currently closed to visitors.