Hello Monaco #11 Spring 2021 | Page 113

MONACO NEIGHBOURHOOD
© Musée d ’ Anthropologie Préhistorique de Monaco / O . Notter
Balzi Rossi and the Prince ’ s Cave – Ventimiglia district , Italy
Elena Rossoni-Notter , Director of the Prehistoric Anthropology Museum of Monaco , at the Prince ’ s Cave ( Balzi Rossi , Italy )
Balzi Rossi is one of the few locations of Cro-Magnon , an ancestral hominid of Homo Sapiens .
© Musée d ’ Anthropologie Préhistorique de Monaco
© Museo Preistorico dei Balzi Rossi
Cave Bear ( Ursus spelaeus ) Complete Skeleton – Prince ’ s Cave – Balzi Rossi , Italy
Engraving of the Horse of the Caviglione ’ s Cave – Balzi Rossi , Italy
However , in Balzi Rossi , wonder never ends . In 1901 , Léonce de Villeneuve unearthed in the Child Cave an old woman and a teenager curled up side by side with some specific physiognomic features unusual within Cro-Magnon . Thus , they became internationally known as the ‘ Grimaldi Man ’, dating back to 22,000 – 26,000 years ago . In spite of their distinctive face elements that originally recalled those of the natives of Africa , on closer examinations , they were definitely included in the Cro-Magnon category . More recent finds in the Prince ’ s Cave , carried out in between the 1960 ’ s – 1970 ’ s by Louis Barral and Suzanne Simone , have unveiled engraved stones and animal waste , attributed to Neanderthal Man , and to even older human traces .
Illustration of the Horse engraved at the Caviglione ’ s Cave – Balzi Rossi , Italy
© Museo Preistorico dei Balzi Rossi
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