Émile-Valère Rivière de Précourt (22 April 1835 - 25 January 1922) was a French physician and specialist in prehistory who conducted explorations of caves in the region for human remains. He was known for his cave research at
Balzi Rossi in Ventimiglia in Liguria and
La Mouthe in Dordogne. He coined the term
speleology
Speleology () is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, as well as their chemical composition, composition, structure, physical property, physical properties, history, ecology, and the processes by which they form (speleogenes ...
. He was a founder of the prehistory society of France (Société préhistorique française).
Rivière was born in Paris where his father was a physician. He went to the
Lycée Bonaparte
Lycée Bonaparte is a French international school in Doha, Qatar. It includes levels ''maternelle'' (preschool) through ''lycée'' (senior high school).
It is named after French Emperor Napoleon.
The École Française de Doha was established in ...
and trained in medicine and interned at the Asile de Vincennes at
Le Vésinet
Le Vésinet () is a suburban Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. It is a part of the affluent outer suburbs of western Paris, from ...
. From 1868 he lived in
Cannes
Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...
and from 1870 at
Menton
Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...
. He visited Baoussé-Roussé (Balzi Rossi) in Italy along with
Stanislas Bonfils in 1869 and the finds were contributed to Bonfil's private museum. Repeat visits from 1870 led to the discovery of a human skeleton from the
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...
known as the "Menton Man". Other skeletal finds followed. In 1877 he joined Léon de Vesly to the
Vallée des Merveilles Vallée is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*André Vallée (1930–2015), Canadian Roman Catholic bishop
* Anne Vallée (born 1958), Canadian biologist
*Bernard Vallée (1945–2021), French fencer
* Brigitte Vallée (bor ...
. In 1887 he wrote a book on the antiquity of man (De l’antiquité de l’homme dans les
Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes (; ; ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'A ...
) which earned him the Vaillant Prize of the Academy of Sciences. In 1887 he began to examine Dordogne, visiting the Laussel shelter and made excavations in the Combarelles cave. In 1895 he discovered wall paintings from the Paleolithic. In 1890, Émile Rivière coined the term speleology from Greek spêlaion (cave) and logos (science) to designate the science of caves. In 1903 he founded the Prehistoric Society of France along with Paul Raymond and served as its first president. Late in 1887 Rivière turned his attention to the caves of the Dordogne.
References
External links
De l'antiquité de l'homme dans les Alpes-Maritimes(1887)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riviere, Emile
1835 births
1922 deaths
Speleologists