The Écrins National Park It comprises more than 100 summits located at more than 3,000 meters of altitude, as well as some 40 glaciers in the southwestern French Alps. There, in 2010, the cave paintings of animals located at the highest altitude in all of Europe were discovered. .
The Abri Faravel site is, according to the researchers, the most enigmatic of all those existing in the Alps , located at an altitude of 2,133 meters. It is a rocky ledge that shows evidence of various phases of human occupation, from the Mesolithic to medieval times.
Mesolithic and Neolithic flint tools, Iron Age pottery, a Roman fibula, and medieval metal objects have been found here.
However, the most interesting thing that gives value to this site are the prehistoric cave paintings, the representations of quadrupeds located at the highest altitudes of the entire continent .
Something really unexpected for archaeologists, given the few natural shelters that the area offers.
What these paintings reveal, according to the researchers, is essential to understand what life and human activity were like in one of the most difficult environments in the world.
Archaeologists from the University of York have recently studied the paintings using lasers and white-light scanners, and have published the resulting virtual models in the journal Internet Archaeology.
The reason for this technological deployment lies in the unusual location of the paintings, in an environment where only engravings are usually found, such as petroglyphs from the nearby Valley of Wonders.
Investigations at the site since its accidental discovery in 2010 include the excavation of a series of stone enclosures and human dwellings, which are considered to be some of the most complex high-mountain Bronze Age structures in existence.
The virtual model can be accessed online.