page_title: History of Paris
section_title: Prehistory
hierarchical_section_title: History of Paris / Prehistory
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Chantier de fouilles de l'INRAP (fév-jul.2008)&#160;: vestiges de chasseurs-cueilleurs du mésolithique à Paris XVe, 62 rue Henri-Farman, sur le futur emplacement du SYCTOM.
context_page_description: The oldest traces of human occupation in Paris, discovered in 2008 near the Rue Henri-Farman in the 15th arrondissement, are human bones and evidence of an encampment of hunter-gatherers dating from about 8000 BC, during the Mesolithic period.
  Between 250 and 225 BC, the Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, settled at Nanterre on the banks of the Seine, built bridges and a fort, minted coins, and began to trade with other river settlements in Europe.
  In 52 BC, a Roman army led by Titus Labienus defeated the Parisii and established a Gallo-Roman garrison town called Lutetia. The town was Christianised in the 3rd century AD, and after the collapse of the Roman Empire, it was occupied by Clovis I, the King of the Franks, who made it his capital in 508.
  During the Middle Ages, Paris was the largest city in Europe, an important religious and commercial centre, and the birthplace of the Gothic style of architecture. The University of Paris on the Left Bank, organised in the mid-13th century, was one of the first in Europe. It suffered from the Bubonic Plague in the 14th century and the Hundred Years' War in the 15th century, with recurrence of the plague.
context_section_description: In 2008, archaeologists of the Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (INRAP) (administered by France's Ministry of Higher Education and Research) digging at n° 62 Rue Henri-Farman in the 15th arrondissement, not far from the Left Bank of the Seine, discovered the oldest human remains and traces of a hunter-gatherer settlement in Paris, dating to about 8000 BC, during the Mesolithic period.
  Other more recent traces of temporary settlements had been found at Bercy in 1991, dating from around 4500–4200 BC.  The excavations at Bercy found the fragments of three wooden canoes used by fishermen on the Seine, the oldest dating to 4800-4300 BC. They are now on display at the Carnavalet Museum. Excavations at the Rue Henri-Farman site found traces of settlements from the middle Neolithic period (4200-3500 BC); the early Bronze Age (3500-1500 BC); and the first Iron Age (800-500 BC). The archaeologists found ceramics, animal bone fragments, and pieces of polished axes.  Hatchets made in eastern Europe were found at the Neolithic site in Bercy, showing that first Parisians were already trading with settlements in other parts of Europe.
caption: Site of the Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (INRAP) digging at the Rue Henri-Farman (15th arrondissement) in June 2008
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