Vallée des Merveilles, Bronze Age petroglyph site in Mercantour National Park, France.
The Vallée des Merveilles is a Bronze Age petroglyph complex in Mercantour National Park in the Maritime Alps near Mount Bégo. More than 35,000 rock carvings spread across roughly 40 square kilometers and form one of the largest collections of prehistoric engravings in Europe.
British archaeologist Clarence Bicknell documented the rock carvings between 1897 and 1902 and recorded more than 10,000 of these engravings on stone surfaces. His work brought international attention to the valley and laid the foundation for further research in the region.
The rock carvings date back to the Bronze Age and show weapons, tools, animals and geometric patterns that offer insight into how these people lived and what mattered to them. Today you can still see these engravings on the stone surfaces when the light catches the lines and shadows bring out the depth of each carving.
Access to the archaeological area is only possible with authorized guides from the national park, who lead visitors along designated paths through the terrain. The walks take place between June and October when the trails are free of snow and passable.
Besides the Bronze Age carvings, you can also find traces of small lizards that lived 250 million years ago in the time before dinosaurs. These fossil footprints are embedded in the rocks and speak to a much older era than the human-made engravings.
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