Located at the foot of the Roche de Solutré in the heart of the Solutré Pouilly Vergisson Grand Site de France, the museum presents collections from one of the richest prehistoric sites in Europe. It tells the story of the life of Upper Palaeolithic hunters at Solutré, and highlights the original aspects of Solutré culture.
The archaeological and botanical garden completes the visit to the museum. This signposted trail is around 1 kilometre long, with 8 key points covering geology, hunting techniques, the landscape in prehistoric times, the discovery and first excavations on the site, contemporary excavations, the site and its remains. You can also discover the exceptional botany of the site, with signs indicating the plants and trees that can be seen along the way.
Audio-guide included in french, english, german, dutch.
Offering an unusual panorama over the Saône river valley, the spectacular Rock of Solutré houses a rich hunting site, cradle of Prehistory and the popular legend of the horses of Solutré.
Famous for its prestigious host, François Mitterrand, who climbed it every Pentecost, the Solutré rock is above all one of the richest prehistoric deposits in Europe : it is at its feet, at the place called “Cros du Charnier”, that a hunting site was discovered in the 19th century, frequented for over 50,000 years by men who came to hunt, butcher and smoke thousands of horses and reindeer. An accumulation of bones that gave rise to the legend that hunters would throw the horses from the top of the rock. But science, in the 1960s, put an end to this belief of the “Horse of Solutré”, a kind of equine lemming.
At the Prehistory Museum, explore the history of the Arcelin and Ferry collections, the two “inventors” of the site ; immerse yourself in the lives of the men who revealed this (pre)history and discover, among cave bear skulls or mammoth teeth, the flagship objects of the exhibition that reveal how our Paleolithic ancestors used animal bones to make all kinds of artisanal tools (percussion or eyed needles) but also primitive jewelry like ivory beads.
The archaeological and botanical garden, covering an area of 13,000 m² and marked by various research, contains a wide variety of plant species typical of the natural environment, some of which are rare. The signage will help you identify them. Follow the marked trail that will guide you on a journey punctuated by eight stations evoking geology, the hunting techniques of prehistoric men, the landscape during Prehistory or the Solutré site. Finally, in the Maison du grand site, the shop, the Café de la Roche or the exhibition rooms will conclude your visit through 60,000 years of history between a place and men.