National Centre for Prehistory
The National Prehistory Centre (NPC) is a research service of the Ministry of Culture. He specializes in the study and conservation of ornate caves and rock art sites.
The missions of the NPC
On the national territory, the National Prehistory Centre is the referent of the General Directorate of Heritage and the Sub-Directorate of Archaeology, to which it is attached. It is also involved in several scientific, national and international collaborations. These main missions are:
- the research in reference decorated caves (currently, he coordinates the research of Lascaux and Chauvet-Pont d'Arc and participates in many other studies: Cerdagne, Cussac, Fronsac and Teyjat, Gabarnmang and Genyormis in Australia...)
- the conservation and archiving of iconography related to this field of study (photographs, surveys, maps, digital data, 3D models, duplicate documents from rock art survey operations...)
- monitoring and scientific advice in the field of study and conservation, in support of the central and decentralized services of the Ministry of Culture
- the expertise rock art sites and archaeological objects
- the training
- dissemination and valorisation of research results
- data management and analysis (GIS Chauvet-Pont d'Arc, 3D models of Lascaux, Font-de-Game...)
The national expertise of the CNP on the conservation of graphic and photographic archives of decorated caves led in 1980 to the creation of a rich reserve of several thousand documents (silver or digital photographs, slides, films, art records...), some of which are available for editing.
The NOC has a rock art resource centre. It is accessible to researchers and students.
The CNP is the founding element of the joint research unit 5199 «From prehistory to the present: culture, environments and anthropology» (Pacea). His collaborations with national and international research units and heritage services are numerous.
The skills of the teame
They are multiple:
- geology and geomorphology
- monitoring the evolution of the walls and its metrology
- the study of the archaeological context of the decorated caves: study of the material remains, putting into perspective the parietal art with the other forms of symbolic expressions (furniture art)
- the recording and processing of digital information