La grotte du GRAND ROC - Les abris de LAUGERIE BASSE

The finder of the cave of the Grand Roc and an archaeologist in the Laugerie Basse shelter.

Born on April 3rd, 1871 in Peyzac-Le-Moustier in the VÈzËre valley, Jean Maury rapidly turned to natural science and assuaged his passion for geology, speleology and prehistory when he settled in Les Eyzies in the 1910s.

In close cooperation with Achille Le Bel, a chemist, he started a new excavation campaign in Laugerie Basse in 1912, and then searched until 1920 the neighbouring Marseilles shelter, duly stating the geological importance of it. He created a museum in Laugerie Basse, presented the Marseilles shelter and laid out the cave of the Grand Roc to welcome visitors.

An archaeologist of passion and a curator of the museum he himself created, Jean Maury died on November 5., 1947, and was buried in a small remote cavity belonging to the Laugerie Basse cliff, on the very site of his excavation campaigns.