Rock of Solutré

The Rock of Solutré (French: Roche de Solutré) is a limestone escarpment west of Mâcon, France, overlooking the commune of Solutré-Pouilly. It is an iconic site in the department of Saône-et-Loire, in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Protected by the French law on sites naturels classés and currently at the heart of a grand site national operation, it draws its fame severally as a rare geological phenomenon of the region, as a prehistoric site of the eponymous Solutrean paleolithic culture, and for the natural environment which its summit provides, the pelouse calciole grassland of Mâcon, with its distinctive flora and fauna. Occupied by humans for at least 55,000 years, it is also the cradle of the Pouilly-Fuissé wine appellation. It has attracted media coverage since the 1980s when French President François Mitterrand started to make ritual ascents of the peak once per year. During the Mesozoic era, warm seas covered the region, as evidenced by the plentiful fossils to be found there. The Rock of Solutré, like its neighbour the Rock of Vergisson, was created from fossilized coral plateaus that developed approximately 160 million years ago in these seas. In the Cenozoic era, eastern Burgundy underwent the effects of the alpine rising; while the Alps grew higher, the Saône basin sank. At the same time, plateaus rose in the west of the plain, then tumbled towards the east. As these processes brought together landforms of differing natural composition, erosion acted upon them differently. The surrounding landscape eroded to rounded hills, leaving the cliffs of Soulutré and Vergisson as monadnocks on the west side that contrast with gentle slopes on the east. Surrounded by vineyards, the rock hosts a varied and spectacular country, from the height of its rocky peak or its grassy slopes. The Saône plain extends to the east, with a view of Mâconnais in the foreground, then Ain and Dombes against the backdrop of the Alps and Mont Blanc in good visibility.