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.
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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
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