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Prehistoric France: Gergovie, Lascaux, and 'Eternal France' (1940-1945)
Abstract
In 1942, thousands gathered at Gergovie to celebrate the French State under Marshal Philippe Pétain. The central symbolic moment of the festivities was the mixing of soil from across the French empire. This study considers the meaning of some prehistoric soil included in that ceremony. The inclusion of ostensibly pre-France and, thus, non-French soil in the national ceremony advanced an ‘eternal France,’ a France whose art, culture and nation were indissociable from a deep history linked to the land. I situate this soil alongside a related and coincident discourse surrounding the nationalization of an important prehistoric cave: Lascaux, discovered in 1940. Attentive to how both Gergovie and Lascaux were used to articulate an expansive and ancient French ‘family,’ I argue that French nationalism sought to expand its history through the appropriation of the prehistory. I conclude by considering the implications of this projected deep history for contemporary debates over French national identity.
Citation
Portal, Michael A. (2023). Prehistoric France: Gergovie, Lascaux, and 'Eternal France' (1940-1945). Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /198843.