A Palaeolithic site of major interest in the Loire Valley

The Roc-en-Pail (or Rocampaille) site in Chalonnes-sur-Loire underwent a fresh series of excavations in the summer of 2014, previous digs having been carried out between 1943 and 1969. New research on bones unearthed in those early excavations has shown them to be those of a Neanderthal man (45,000 years old) –the first of their kind to be discovered in Pays de la Loire.