The rock engravings of Mont Bégo in Tende

The Valley of Wonders is a valley in the Mercantour National Park in the Southern Alps where more than 35,000 protohistoric rock carvings dating from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages have been discovered, among other more recent pastoral or military engravings. Discovered at the end of the 19th century, the engravings are found on rocks polished by glaciers or on erratic blocks (mainly pelite and sandstone). They are of two kinds: V-grooves corresponding to inscriptions or schematic plots attributed to recent periods; Large depressions or cupules with flat bottom, realized by percussion, attributed to the Bronze Age.The elements of this group include horned figures (cattle), weapons (daggers, halberds, axes, etc.), anthropomorphic and geometric figures (spirals, crosshairs, etc.). The interpretation is delicate, but usually refers to religious concerns.
The rock engravings, numbering approximately 100,000 including 37,000 figurative, cover 3,700 rocks covering nearly 1,400 ha spread over a larger 4,000 ha. They are spread across seven high valleys located at more than 2,000 m above sea level, around Mont Bégo (2,872 m) and du Rocher des Wonders (2,659 m), including 6 in France: Vallauretta, Valmasque, col du Sabion, lac Sainte-Marie and especially Merveilles (972 ha) and Fontanalba (486 ha) remarkable for their richness in engravings. Most of these engravings are arranged around Mont Bégo (commune of Tende), which suggested to some scientists that this mountain was sacred. The distribution is about 50% in the Valley of Wonders, and 50% in the Valley of Fontanalbe. Located respectively to the west and north of Mont Bégo, these archaeological sites are more easily accessible by the valley of the Roya (Tende - Casterino). If the site can be visited without a guide while staying on the marked trails regular visits are organized on both valleys every day from June 15 to the end of September. Part of the road to prehistory.

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