Archeotrail : the craftsmen of Prehistory

5 points of interest

• Flint Workshop

  The southern part of the plateau of Vassieux is a flint-sized zone. The flint-sized workshop where the Museum of Prehistory was set up was discovered in 1970 by Dr. Michel Malenfant. It is then covered with a stone formed over the centuries by the plowing of the farmers. This is what protected and preserved it intact as abandoned by prehistoric men 4,500 years ago. After stripping and excavation, the workshop turns out to be a large blade production site (nearly 30 cm). It was exploited during three centuries, from 2700 to 2400 before J.C by Neolithic artisans-tailors. Tools of flint in Vassieux were found in the center of Germany and on the island of Ré. Farmers, occasional hunters, artisans and traders, these Neolithic men invented pluriactivity, which is still today a component of the economy of the mountain.

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• The forests of Vassieux

  The vast forests that you will cross are managed by the National Forestry Office. Although located on the territory of Vassieux-en-Vercors, which is responsible for the maintenance of forest roads (as these are communal roads, they are the public property of Vassieux), the forests themselves belong in reality to the town of Die and the town of Marignac-en-Diois. The benefits of the exploitation of wood therefore escape the commune of Vassieux.Before 1911, Vassieux was administratively attached to Die. The story goes that the municipality, unable to pay taxes, would have donated the land to pay its debts, which would explain the current situation.

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• Shelter of the Col de Vassieux

  The shelter of the pass of Vassieux is an unguarded shelter built in 1976 and restored in 2014-2015 by the Regional Natural Park of Vercors.With a maximum capacity of 15 people, it is open all year and free of access. However, as with most shelter huts in the territory, certain rules must be respected if the service is to last for a long time (most of them are recalled to you inside the shelter).

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• The Col de Vassieux, ancestral crossing point

  At about 500 meters from your position, you can see the pass of Vassieux. It has most probably been a place of exchange and passage from the Middle Palaeolithic, 50 000 years ago. What is certainly certain is that he later connected Die to Vassieux-en-Vercors. In 5 hours' walk, the cheeses, wool and charcoal produced at Vassieux were brought down, to climb painfully from the town of Die, wine, sugar, clothing and various tools. The opening of the various roads at the end of the 19th century reoriented exchanges towards the Vercors and Royans, which had become easier to access.

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• Panorama of the But Saint-Genix

  From the But Saint-Genix to the Vassieux pass and from west to east, you can take a look at the plateaux of Font d'Urle and Ambel, where Mesolithic (9,500-5,500 BC) and Neolithic archaeological sites (5 500-2 500 BC) were uncovered.In the south, the Diois offers a mosaic of archaeological sites ranging from the Middle Palaeolithic (50,000 years) to the metal ages (800 BC). The city of Die, besides its Gallo-Roman past, also sheltered neolithic occupations, as evidenced by the discovery of a 4.12 m high menhir and various sites of habitats.In Marignac-en-Diois, at the foot of the Vercors, a collective burial in the cave of the Bronze Age was excavated. As in Vassieux, the flint of the Diois was exploited in particular at Boulc and Menglon.Finally, to the east, you can see the Hautes Plateaux du Vercors. They have been frequented since the Mesolithic, as evidenced by the site of Pre-Peyret.

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