If you have seen The Flintstones, Quest for Fire or Conan the Barbarian, you realise that prehistory is still popular today. But did you know it wasn’t until the 19th century that this period of history was actually “discovered”? It’s true. Until then, people used to trace the origins of humankind back to the flood mentioned in the book of Genesis. It was in Abbeville that an amateur archaeologist, Boucher de Perthes, made the discovery in 1863 that revolutionised the world of archaeology. His find: flint tools carved by humans around 650,000 years ago – the oldest traces of human settlement ever unearthed, in the north of France. He may not be the founder of prehistory, but he’s certainly the one who found it. To uncover more about the man and his work, head to Musée Boucher-de-Perthes.
Read more
