47th INHIGEO SYMPOSIUM 2022 at Les Eyzies in southwestern France

 

The Comité français d’Histoire de la Géologie (COFRHIGEO) will organize the 2022 INHIGEO Symposium in France, in September 2022, in the Périgord region (southwestern France). The main venue of the congress will be Les Eyzies, a picturesque village in the Vézère Valley, otherwise known for its many prehistoric sites (Lascaux, Cro-Magnon, La Madeleine, Font de Gaume, Combarelle, etc.). We present here a program which is still provisional and subject to possible revision.

Périgord is an active tourist region with many accommodations offers at reasonable prices (hotels, AirBnB). There are also accommodation possibilities in Les Eyzies, notably the Maison François Bordes, managed by the University of Bordeaux. The village is also well served by train from the city of Bordeaux.

Conference talks and poster sessions will take place at the Musée national de la Préhistoire [National Museum of Prehistory] of Les Eyzies, from September 16th to 20th, 2022. The 4-day conference would include three days of talks and scientific activities, and one-day excursion in the Vézère Valley (Lascaux IV, Combarelle, Font de Gaume...).

 

The main scientific themes will be:

 

1. History of Quaternary geology, prehistory and geology of caves;
2. History of Miocene geology, since the region includes the Burdigalian and Aquitanian stratotypes;
3. Other sessions of the conference will cover all subjects related to the history of geosciences.

 

In addition, pre- and post-conference excursions, subject to independent pricing and organization, will be planned:

 

Pre-conference excursion, from Poitiers to Les Eyzies (September 15th): The impact sites of Chassenon-Rochechouart resulted from the fall of an asteroid in Triassic times. Molten and brecciated rocks, observed by Desmaret in 1773, were long taken for volcanic rocks, and remained a geological enigma until the 1960s, when the impact origin was recognized.

 

Post-conference excursion, from Les Eyzies to Bordeaux (September 21st to 24th [?]): The Vézère Valley and other prehistoric sites further south, in Périgord, Quercy and possibly Ariège, will be visited. The excursion will end with the Miocene sites of the Bordeaux region: Sainte-Croix-du-Mont (studied since 1620); the Saucats and La Brède Natural Geological Reserve (Burdigalian and Aquitanian stratotypes, Montesquieu’s house). Some Bordeaux vineyards and cellars, notably the Bordeaux Wine Museum, will also be on the program.

 

The Conference program will be supervised by a scientific committee, chaired by Philippe Taquet, former president of the INHIGEO and current president of the COFRHIGEO. The material organization (registrations, financial management) will be entrusted to an organizing committee, chaired by Claudine Cohen and Pascal Richet. It will benefit from several sponsorships and the services of the association Naturalia et Biologia. The abstract and excursion booklets, written in English, will be published in digital formats, and if possible, in hard copy.

After a year of pandemic, we invite you with great pleasure to come to Les Eyzies for a congress which will be the occasion to meet again and to visit interesting sites in a pleasant region.

 

To express your interest in the meeting, please contact the INHIGEO Secretary General: m.koelbl@lmu.de

 

 

INHIGEO Annual Conferences for 2023–24 are scheduled as follows:

 

2023 – 48th INHIGEO Symposium, Poland

2024 – 49th INHIGEO Symposium, South Korea, Busan (in association with the 37th IGC)