Les Oullas: an image-bearing rockshelter on a Neolithic Alpine path ?

Around the Petit-Chasseur Site in

Sion (Valais, Switzerland) and New Approaches to the Bell Beaker Culture

Proceedings of the International Conference held at Sion (Switzerland) October 27th – 30th, 2011

edited by Marie Besse

Archaeopress Archaeology

UISPPUnion Internationaledes SciencesPré- et Protohistoriques

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© Archaeopress and the individual authors 2014

Cover images: Artefacts from the Petit-Chasseur site (Sion, Valais, Switzerland). Picture: Musées cantonaux du Valais, Sion

Scientific Committee: Marie Besse, Florence Cattin, Philippe Curdy, Jocelyne Desideri, Alain Gallay, Anne-Lyse Gentizon-Haller, Marc Haller, Gilbert Kaenel, François Mariéthoz, Manuel Mottet, Martine Piguet, François Wiblé

Partner Institutions:Association « Archéologie et gobelets »Association valaisanne d’archéologie CUSO – Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentaleFNS – Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant 10CO12_138755)Loterie romandeMusée cantonal d’HistoireService cantonal d’archéologie du ValaisSociété académique du ValaisUISPP - IUPPS International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, placed under the auspices of the UNESCO, Neolithic Civilizations of the Mediterranean and EuropeUniversity of Geneva, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Institute F.-A. Forel,Laboratory of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology

Layout: Céline von Tobel, Laboratory of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology, Institute F.-A. Forel, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva

Translations: The authors are responsible for the English version of their text

Citation: Besse (M.), ed. 2014. Around the Petit-Chasseur Site in Sion (Valais, Switzerland) and New Approaches to the Bell Beaker Culture, Proceedings of the International Conference (Sion, Switzerland – October 27th – 30th 2011). Oxford : Archaeopress

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Proceedings of the International Conference “Around the Petit-Chasseur Site” – Sion, Switzerland, 2011

Table of Contents

Preface

Marie Besse, Philippe Curdy, Jocelyne desideri, Alain Gallay, and François WiBlé 1961 – 2011: fifty years of discoveries and scientific studies around the site of Petit-Chasseur at Sion ………………………………………………………………… 9

The Petit-Chasseur Site in Sion (Valais, Switzerland) and the End of the Neolithic in the Alps

Alain Gallay The Chronology of the Petit-Chasseur cemetery (Sion, Valais): a reply to Richard Harrison and Volker Heyd …………………………………………………… 17

Sébastien Favre Some facts and ideas about the stelae stemming from the sites of Sion, Petit-Chasseur and Aosta, Saint-Martin de Corléans ……………………………………… 25

Geneviève Perréard loPreno Is it possible to estimate the size of the social group from which the individuals buried in dolmen M XII at the “Petit-Chasseur” site (Sion, Valais) stem? ………… 33

Jehanne aFFolter Lithic raw materials from the Petit-Chasseur site …………………………………… 43

Florence Cattin, Philippe Curdy, Barbara Guénette-BeCk, Adrian WiChser, Andrea ulriCh, Vera huBert, Katja hunGer, Marie Wörle, Kathrin hametner, Detlef Günter, Carmela Chateau-smith, Igor M. villa and Marie Besse The copper-based artefacts from Sion/Petit-Chasseur (Valais, Switzerland) during the Late Neolithic, the Bell Beaker period and the Early Bronze Age (3200–1550 BC) ……………………………………………………………………… 59

Nicole reynaud savioz and François-Xavier Chauvière The exploitation of animal resources in the Final Neolithic settlement of Bramois, Immeuble Pranoé D (Valais, Switzerland). A global approach …………… 77

Marco Baioni and Raffaella PoGGiani keller Third millennium BC ritual and burial practices in Lombardy ……………………… 87

Claudia deFrasne and Maxence Bailly Les Oullas: an image bearing rockshelter on a Neolithic Alpine path? ………………101

The Final Neolithic and the Bell Beaker Culture in Europe and beyond

Alain Gallay Sion, Petit-Chasseur: a taste of Europe, and beyond …………………………………113

Ariane WiniGer Architectural organisation of the Final Neolithic lakeside villages of Concise (Vaud, Switzerland) ……………………………………………………………………133

Elena Burri-Wyser The Final Neolithic pottery of Concise (Vaud, Switzerland)… or what do with unattractive material? …………………………………………………………………143

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Michel mauvilly, Julien sPielmann and Marie Besse The Bell-Beaker Culture in the Canton of Fribourg (Switzerland): Current State of Research ………………………………………………………………………155

Emilie Blaise, Daniel helmer, Fabien Convertini, Robin Furestier and Olivier lemerCier Bell Beaker herding and hunting in south-eastern France: an interdisciplinary approach with technological, historical and social implications ………………………163

Olivier lemerCier Bell Beakers in Eastern France and the Rhône-Saône-Rhine axis question …………181

Nicola dal santo, Alessandro Ferrari, Gabriella moriCo and Giuliana SteFFè Bell Beaker in Eastern Emilia (Northern Italy) ………………………………………205

Manuel Ángel rojo-Guerra, Rafael Garrido-Pena and Ana Mercedes herrero-Corral Symbolic arenas for social display: the dynamics of power from the Middle- Late Neolithic to the Copper Age (c. 4000-2000 cal BC) in the Ambrona Valley (Soria, Spain) …………………………………………………………………137

Ana Lúcia Ferraz and Pascal tramoni From Évora to Monsaraz: brief presentation of an uncharted group of engraved Neolithic stelae from the Alentejo Central region (Portugal) ………………245

Abdelouahed Ben-nCer, Youssef BokBot, Fethi Amani and Mostafa OuaChi Study of the Chalcolithic Burial 2 and 3 of Ifri n’Amr ou Moussa (Morocco) ………251

Anna Endrődi Effects of cultural contacts on the burial rites of the Bell Beaker – Csepel Group ……………………………………………………………………………259

Ferenc Gyulai The archaeobotanical evidence of burial rites of the Bell Beaker – Csepel Group ……277

Jan turek Social and symbolic foundations of the Beaker Phenomenon …………………………285

Hanna KowalEwsKa-MarszałEK and Henri duday The Kichary Nowe necropolis (Little Poland) and its funerary rituals, from the Middle Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age ……………………………………………295

Erik drenth Cremation graves of the Bell Beaker Culture from the Netherlands: social, spatial and temporal aspects ……………………………………………………………307

Societies and Megaliths

Nicolas CauWe Megaliths of Easter Island ……………………………………………………………321

Alain testart Anthropology of the Megalith-Erecting Societies ……………………………………331

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AbstractThe site of Les Oullas in the upper Longet valley in the Ubaye region is a key site in the European Neolithic site. The rockshelter, located in a narrow zone at 2390 m a.s.l. along a route to the Piedmont in Italy, is overhung by a rock face painted and engraved with images dating back several millennia. Amongst them are engravings of Remedello type daggers dated to 2900–2400 BC, evidence of a Neolithic north Italian influence. The iconographic study was made with an image processing software (DStretch) and made it possible to specify paintings or engravings invisible for the naked eye or partially worn off. Thus the delimitations of schematic paintings predating the Late Neolithic were clarified and completed. The contextualisation of these images reveals a site which is crucial for the understanding of mobility in high mountain environments and transalpine cultural influences. The vertical walls and the microtopography suggest that the site of Les Oullas was a “site of passage” or, in other words, a liminal site..Keywords: rock-art, Alps, Neolithic, digital image enhancement, high-altitude, passage.

RésuméLes Oullas: un abri sous roche orné sur un chemin néolithique alpin ? – Le site des Oullas, dans la haute vallée du Longet en Ubaye, est un site rupestre majeur du Néolithique européen. Abri inséré dans un couloir rocheux situé à 2390 mètres d’altitude sur une voie de circulation menant au Piémont italien, il est surplombé d’une paroi, support d’images plurimillénaires. Parmi ces images mentionnons des gravures de poignards Remedello datés de 2900–2400 BC témoins d’une influence nord-italique à la fin du Néolithique. L’étude iconographique est réalisée à l’aide d’un logiciel de traitement d’image, DStretch, permettant de révéler des tracés peints ou gravés, invisibles à l’œil nu ou partiellement effacés. Ainsi, les contours de peintures schématiques antérieures au Néolithique final ont pu être précisés et complétés. La contextualisation de ces images laisse entrevoir un site essentiel à la compréhension de la fréquentation des milieux d’altitude et des influences culturelles transalpines. La verticalité des parois s’associe à la microtopographie des lieux pour faire du site des Oullas un « site de passage ».Mots-clefs : rupestre, Alpes, Néolithique, traitement d’image, haute-altitude, passage.

Les Oullas: an image bearing rockshelter on a Neolithic Alpine path?

Claudia Defrasne and Maxence Bailly

Defrasne Claudia: chercheure associée au Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe-Afrique, UMR 7269, Aix-Marseille Université – CNRS, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication – Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme, 5 rue du Château de l’Horloge, B.P. 647, 13094 Aix-En-Provence Cedex 2 – [email protected] Maxence: Maître de Conférences – Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe-Afrique, UMR 7269, Aix-Marseille Université – CNRS, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication – Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme, 5 rue du Château de l’Horloge, B.P. 647; 13094 Aix-En-Provence Cedex 2 – [email protected]

Geographical setting and research context

The Upper Longet Valley, located in the Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye district (Alpes de Haute-Provence, France) (fig.1), pro-vides one of the most striking sites in the Western Alps. This site, called Les Oullas – Cornascle I, Panneau des Oullas or Daggers Rock, is located at 2390 meters a.s.l., on the left bank of the Ubaye stream in a north-east/south-west oriented thal-weg lined with schistose rock surfaces and forming a natural corridor (fig. 2). Providing a rock shelter used for pastoral ac-tivities, as evidenced by enclosures still visible, it belongs to the corpus of a dozen or so sites with pictographs, attributed to the Neolithic period to the Iron Age, known in the Western Alps. The south-east facing rock surface is bearing an excep-tional range of linear incisions, pecked engravings and pic-tographs, from the Neolithic period onwards. Patronymic initials, signatures, dates and animals make up the corpus of modern engravings spread over a panel with a height a height of 0,80 to 1,20 m and to a length of 7 m. The study presented

here consists in a preliminary approach of this very complex rockshelter to which french archaeologists paid very little at-tention since its discovery by A. Müller and M. Jorda in the eighties during a pedestrian survey (Müller and Jorda 1987).

Indeed, it seems interesting and crucial, to better understand the nature, chronology and structure of these rupestrian im-ages and to reinsert this rock surface in its archaeological context. We expect to enhance the description and under-standing of this uncommon rockshelter thanks to the use of a new computer software device named DStretch. As an Image J software plug-in, DStretch is being used in rock art recor-ding for its ability to bring out faint pictographs that are in-visible to the naked eye from digital camera images (Harman 2005). Now commonly used in the rock art studies, particu-larly in Australian and American contexts (McNiven et al. 2004 ; Brady 2006 ; Mark and Billo 2006 ; Gutiérrez Calvache 2009 ; Gunn et al. 2010 ; Acevado and Franco 2012 ; Brady and Gunn 2012 ; ), more rarely for the study of African and

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Les Oullas: an image bearing rockshelter on a Neolithic Alpine path ? Defrasne Claudia and Bailly Maxence

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European contexts (Quesada Martínez 2008 ; Domingo et al 2013 ; Colella s.d.), the plugin DStretch was – until now – never applied to painted Alpine rupestrian images. And yet, in spite of some difficulties due to the Alpine lithology and rock surfaces’ poor conservation which makes the post treatment with DStretch more difficult, this tool provides a real poten-tial for the study of these images.

Neolithic images and their bakgroundThe rockshelter is known for providing several engravings and paintings of different kinds unambigously belonging to dif-ferent periods, from the Neolithic onwards. Images process-ing via this new software is obviously a step forward for the analysis of images sometimes blurred by erosion or overlap-ping one another. For instance, when applied to the central part of the Daggers Rock, the plugin DStretch revealed a red painted signature carefully realised and inscribed “J. Volaire 1568” (fig. 3). This signature was only partly mentioned on previous recordings (Müller and Jorda 1987, Müller, Jorda and Gassend 2004, Arcà 2004). Generally disappointing when applied to the engravings, DStretch was considerably helpful, on this Alpine rock surface, for the reading of linear incisions and scratchings. Due to the engravings’ contrast on the orange-colored patina of this schistose rock surface, these results enabled to clarify the outlines of an Iron Age warrior

(fig. 4). The reds are selectively suppressed and dark colors (here the scratchings) brought out. The post-treatment of this engraving with DStretch made it possible to correct and com-plete the previous recordings and their interpretation. Indeed, Müller et al. (2004) and Hameau (2010) described this war-rior as belonging to a duel scene composed of two faced war-riors. But it has proved that the body of the second warrior is no other than the shield of the first one, confirming thus Arcà’s recording (Arcà 2004) and Trustram-Eve observations (Trustram-Eve 2005). On the Arcà’s recording, the head, the top part of the body and the right leg do not appear in their whole. Consequently, this warrior, partly covered by the 16th century signature, is comparable engravings attributed to the Iron Age on the Valcamonica’s rock surfaces (Fossati 1991).

In addition to varied evidences of passage and circulation pre-viously mentioned, the Daggers Rock displays Later Neolithic images from which it gets is name. Indeed, engravings of Remedello type daggers, are evidences of the use of this rock face as an ideological medium between 2900 – 2400 BC (De Marinis 1994) (fig. 5). Remains of these daggers appear on a very damaged part of the panel implying that other now disappeared representations also adorned this rock surface. A first group consists in three horizontal daggers displayed in column, two pointing to the right and one to the left. Parts of the half-moon shaped pommel of both superiors, daggers are

Figure 1. Location of the Oullas rockshelter. (copyright relief map: IGN).

Figure 2. View of the thalweg from the south-west (left) and the north-east (right). The arrow in-dicates the engraved rock surface. Photographs: C. Defrasne.


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not preserved anymore and it’s the same for the blade of the third dagger. A fourth dagger with a double handle and poin-ting to the right is engraved further south. Such handles are known on the chalcolithic stelae, boulders and outcrops of Valcamonica and Valtellina in northern Italy (Poggiani Keller 1989; Fedele 2006). If representations of Remedello daggers engravings still have to be considered rare in the Alps, such a concentration is indeed exceptional. Another rupestrian site showing daggers engravings attributed to the Remedello type is known in Chastel-Arnaud in the Drôme (Morin et al. 2005) but morphological differences question their ty-pological attribution. Remedello type daggers engravings

are known around the central Alps on the stelae from Petit-Chasseur, Saint-Martin-de-Corléans, Trentino Alto Adige and Luningiana. We shall notice that one of the major Alpine rupestrian site located around the Mont Bego (Vallée des Merveilles, Val Fontanalba, Valaurette, Valmasque) in the Tende area (Alpes-Maritimes, France), while more than forty thousands rock engravings were recovered and registered (de Lumley et Echassoux 2011), representations of metal tools and weapons are scarce (Romain 1991; Huet 2012). As for the objects, only one “real” Remedello dagger were found in an archaeological context, outside the Italian peninsula. Among the archaeological remains from the dolmen in Orgon

Figure 3. A painted signature carefully realised revealed by DStretch enhancement and mentioning “J. Volaire 1568”. Photograph: M. Bailly, Digital image processing: C. Defrasne.

Figure 4. An incised iron age war-rior revealed by DStretch enhance-ment. Photograph: M. Bailly, Digital image processing: C. Defrasne.

Figure 5. Engravings of Remedello type daggers. Photograph: C. Defrasne.



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(Bouches-du-Rhône, France) in the Rhône valley (Courtin et Sauzade 1975, Sauzade 1979, Rossi and Gattiglia 2005). For these reasons, we can affirm that the Daggers Rock had a very uncommon status. Moreover, the typology of the dag-gers which is quite accurate reveals clear similarities with the representations known in northern Italy and the structure of the daggers in column allows us to draw a parallel with what can be observed on the Central Alps boulders. Secondly, the dimensions of the weapon’s figurations seem real-size, which suggests that the engravers owned or had already seen such daggers. This way of representation of a symbolic accumula-tion, or even a symbolic hoarding, is attested in Valcamonica, on the Ceresolo 1 boulder (Ceresolo) or on the monolith Cemmo 2 (Capo di Ponte) for instance (Defrasne 2013). Such an arrangement of the daggers representations differs from what one can observe in the Petit-Chasseur necropolis in Sion (Wallis, Switzerland) and in the Luningiania group (Liguria, Italy), where the daggers are only represented like items of men’s costume. Moreover, these groupings bring together daggers pointing in varied direction, more often to the left or the right. We have to underline that the previous papers published on Les Oullas used to gather the daggers engravings with a large male anthropomorphic figure (76 cm high) located nearby on the same panel (Muller et Jorda 1987: 97-98; Arca 2004). However, this very unusual engrav-ing has to be considered with caution: differences in the en-graving techniques, surface treatment of the rock panel and even stylistic details could indicate a quite recent chronology for this picture (fig. 6).

Thus, these observations are evidences of continental routes which were connecting the Pô plain and the Durance val-ley through Alpine passes since, the third millennium BC. But such a circulation at high altitude appears still more

ancient1. Indeed, red ochre branchlike paintings are situated on the inferior rim of the main panel on a surface of 50 cm width and 24 cm height (fig. 7). The Neolithic affiliation is legitimated by the clear superimpositions of engravings of Remedello type daggers on the painted images, thus presen-ting a clear terminus ante quem for these ubiquitous images at the beginning of the third millennium BC. Here, the use of DStretch made it possible to clarify images’ outlines and discover some painted elements lacking on previous recor-dings, thus completing the Neolithic composition. On the left ramiform, remains of three “branches” were detected for the first time, which makes this graphic entity formally closer to the others (fig. 8). Moreover, the right one is proving to be higher than the other representations as mentioned on the Müller’s recording (2004). However, it seems that this figure is now altered since some painted elements are not preserved anymore. In the middle of the composition, three lines (not mentioned on previous publications) are lighter than the others. This difference in the color intensity can be interpreted in different ways. Their ramified appearance and their posi-tion different from the others ones might testify to a previous phase of representation. However, it is difficult to be asser-tive2. As we argued previously, only a dozen of painted sites are known in the Western Alps, eight of which are probably Neolithic. Only one of these sites, called la Balma di Mondon, displays representations which could remind us of the rami-forms figures from the daggers rock (Gambari et al. 2001

1. Movement of objects – at least – are documented across the Alpine arc, from southeast France to North-East since the Early Neolithic (Beeching et al. 1999; Mottes et al. 2002).

2. These lighter remains might also correspond to scrubbing actions or re-sumptions during the execution of the paintings (J.-L. Le Quellec oral communication).

Figure 6. Engraving of a dubious an-thropomorphic figure. Photograph: M. Bailly.


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Seglie et al. 2005; Arcà 2010). Such rupestrian paintings are attributed by french researchers, and in an broadly sense, to the Late Neolithic while italian ones tend to attribute them to the Middle Neolithic. For these reasons, it appears difficult to evaluate such a painted composition in its archaeological context.

We propose here a brief comparative study of images for-mally close to the images of les Oullas and attributed to pe-riods prior to the third millennium BC. Such images appear in varied archaeological and geographical contexts. But these comparisons raise a methodological problem of classifica-tion. Images formally different are brought together under the ramiform term while there is no reason to do this a priori. Moreover, it is difficult to choose the right benchmark among these images because of their wide formal variability. Thus, connections are proposed on the basis on four criterions. Indeed, ramiforms from Les Oullas are characterised at once by their vertical position, their location on the inferior rim of the main panel, the variability of branch orientation and their grouping. It appears difficult to found another site presenting such a set of characteristics. First of all, the verticality of the

rock surface and consequently of the images is essential for their understanding and conveys probably a high proportion of their meaning. But vertical ramiforms are widespread in schematic paintings attributed to the Neolithic period (Vth-IIIrd millenium BC) of the Iberian Peninsula (Breuil 1933abc; Züchner 1983, Garcia Diez et al. 2001, Fernández Rodríguez 2003: 57-58, Fairén Jiménez 2007) (fig. 9). They also appear in schematic paintings from Provence – abri A des Essartènes (Le Val, Var), La Baume Peinte for instance – (Hameau 1995; 1997) to Porto Badisco cave (Lecce, Puglia) (Graziosi 1980). Thus, even if this criterion is essential, it doesn’t allow to specify the archaeological attribution of the Ubaye images. Another essential point for the understanding of the Alpine picture is the grouping of five figures. It seems that the sym-bolic value of each figure combines with the other to convey an amplified message. However, in the absence of superim-positions, it is difficult to say whether this accumulation is synchronous or the product of an accumulation over time. But in each case we can put forward that the grouping, even alignment, of figures is meaningful. Such a way of represen-ting ramiforms is quite exceptional. Finally, images from les Oullas are clearly associated with the inferior rim of the main panel. No comparison was found neither in the Iberian cor-pus nor in the Provençal one. However, another connection seems interesting to pinpoint. A ramiform adorns the upper right corner of the orthostat 3 in the Table des Marchands, a major megalithic monument in Brittany, which construction occurred during the first half of the fifth millennium BC (4900 – 4700 BC) (Cassen and Robin 2009). The image, engraved in situ at the bend of the corridor, is placed above a horizon-tal breaking line of the rock surface. As written by G. Robin and S. Cassen (2009), the study of such images in Britain and Ireland highlights recurrent characteristics: the association with a natural horizontal line and its function of marker of limits and transition between inner tomb spaces. These obser-vations allow to suggest some hypothesis about the Daggers Rock and particularly to put forward that the break line formed by the inferior rim of the panel should be integrated to the understanding of the images. The rock surface seems to take part of the semiology of the ramiform alignment. For this reason, it appears difficult to associate such images with the representations of deer antlers sometimes mentioned (Arcà 2004). Infering that ramiforms are images of vegetal elements is conceivable but cannot be considered the only way to interpret it.

Figure 7. Red ochre schematic paintings representing ramiforms before and after DStretch enhancement. Photograph: M. Bailly, Digital image processing: C. Defrasne.

Figure 8. Recording of paintings from DStretch enhancement. Drawing : C. Defrasne.



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Archaeological context

No archaeological remains were found in strict association within the site. However, flint blades and bladelets attributed to the fifth or the fourth millenium BC and a cutting edge of a greenstone axe were found during a pedestrian survey conducted around the site in 2005 (Garcia and Mocci 2005; Garcia et al 2007; Mocci and Walsh 2007). The wider archae-ological context is largely constituted of stray finds recovered since the mid 19th century: bladelets (even pressure flaking bladelets) and stone axes (fig. 10). Some stone axes could be made of Mont Viso’s jadeite and the most interesting one (hameau de Fouillouse), about 10 cm long, probably made of garnet eclogite, shows an obvious fire extraction wear. These evidences of a Neolithic mobility in this altitude environment raises questions about the nature of activities performed and draw the attention to the potential relationship between the Oullas rockshelter and the Mount Viso jadeite quarries (fig. 11).

A passage on a transalpine route?Considering the altitude of this site and the proximity of several passes, such as the Col de la Noire (2955 m. asl.),

Col de Saint-Véran (2844 m. asl.), Col Agnel (2744 m. asl.) and Col du Longet (2646 m. asl) allowing the access to the Italian foothills (the ridge line is the actual border between France and Italy), one may think that the Oullas rockshelter is related to the pathways used to get access to high altitude places (fig. 12). Moreover, the microtopography of the site is dramatic and striking. Indeed, this natural corridor formed by two rock surfaces opposite each other and creating a narrowing of the valley emphasises the idea of passage and transition. Such a topographical “stage” is unique all along the valley course and the vertical rock surface of Les Oullas is the unique discovered place bearing such a palimpsest of painted and engraved images from the Neolithic period to re-cent times. Some other rupestrian images are known around the site but only engraved on boulders or outcrops and more recent. Thus, the site of the Daggers Rock coincides with a particular place punctuating an Alpine walkway used since the late Prehistory. This place could represent a stage in the progress along this pre-planned route and the verticality of the rock surfaces associated to the narrowing of the valley may embody the idea of crossing a material limit or a sym-bolic threshold. The images described here were maybe ac-companying such a transition. This combination of vertical-ity and threshold, two aspects underlined by S. Cassen (2010)

Figure 9. Examples of vertical ramiforms from the corpus of Neolithic schematic paintings from Spain. CAD: M. Bailly.


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Figure 10. Distribution of blades, bladelets and greenstone axes in the Longet valley, map: S. Cachia.

Figure 11. Situation of the Longet valley in relation to Mount Viso moutains. (source image : Google map).



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Figure 12. Several passes to Italian Piedmont close to the Longet valley. 1:25 000 base map – IGN. CAD: C. Defrasne

Figure 13. An Alpine “site of passage” or liminal site ? Photograph: C. Defrasne.


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in his study of the megalithic architecture could be relevant here for the understanding of the Neolithic use of the Oullas rockshelter.

ConclusionAs usual, the systematic study of already known archaeo-logical sites provide unexpected results and outcomes. Once more, rock art site have to be studied not as art sites but as archaeological sites, within their archaeological context. This preliminary study of the Oullas rockshelter already provided us a renewed chronological framework, from Neolithic (5th millenimum BC) to the modern era. We adressed the ques-tion of images’integrity and the probable alteration of some engravings in recent times. The study also underlines the high number of copper daggers engravings, with rare compari-sons within the Alpine range. The earlier paintings provide us an unexpected network of representations coming from

the whole Iberian Peninsula and from the heart of atlantic megalithism. One may think that such a richly painted and engraved panel in such an uncommun topographical context was established with a clear design and purpose, but do we have to consider this site (corridor, shelter and panel) as a “site de passage” or a “liminal site” (Cassen 2010) (fig. 13)? Could this so peculiar archaeological site be related, in some way, to the anthropological concept of “rite de passage” (van Gennep 1909), which was successfully and widely use in social anthropology and more recently applied to rock art studies (Hameau 2007; Hameau and Painaud 2009). More difficult will be our ability to investigate the relationship between the Oullas rockshelter and the jadeite quarries in Mont Viso area, even if the Punta Rasciassa is visible from the Longet pass. Finally, this rock surface proves to be painted and engraved since, at least, 7 millenia. To engrave several copper daggers on previous Neolithic paintings is clearly not a coincidence. The value of the place seems collectively shared since then.

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Les Oullas: an image-bearing rockshelter on a Neolithic Alpine path ?