Abstract
FRANgOIS-RENE-BENIT VATAB, SlEUB, DE JOTJANNET (1765-1845), a native of Rennes, who settled in P6ri-gord in the early years of the Revolution, is here celebrated as a forgotten pioneer in the study of prehistoric archaeology, and a precursor of Boucher de Perthes. In 1810, while investigating a Gallo-Roman cemetery near P6rigueux, Jouannet discovered a neolithic station, which there is reason to believe is the first ever described. As the author shows by dated references, Jouannet was first in the discovery of palaeolithic caves and of a Solutrean site, as well as of the association of worked flints with fossilized animal remains. He was also the first to classify antiquity into stone, bronze and iron ages, and to distinguish two phases of the stone age. In experimenting in working flint and in analysing chemically fossil bones and bronze axes he initiated scientific methods of archaeological investigation. His reports, which were submitted to local scientific academies or appeared in the Dordogne Calendar, are here reprinted with an account of his career.
Jouannet:
Grand-père de la Prehistoire. Par Dr. André Cheynier. Pp. 101 + 3 plates. (Publiés sous les auspices de la Société Historique et Archéologique du Périgord.) (Brive: Chastrusse, Praudel et Cie., 1936.) 15 francs.
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Jouannet. Nature 138, 823 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138823b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138823b0