We published in 2019 on https://www.clarencebicknell.com papers by the archaeologist Jules Masson Mourey and we thank him for his permission to do so. The most fascinating feature of his work is the curious phenomenon of rock engravings of humans with their feet turned inwards, pieds bots in French (clubfoot in English), and their occurrence in real life. Download the pdf in French and English at https://clarencebicknell.com/wp-content/uploads/keyhole_figures_merveilles_2019_masson-mourey.pdf.
Now we can watch his presentation (in French) on YouTube which can be summarised as follows. “The Clubfoot of the Vallée des Merveilles: Hypotheses Surrounding a Neolithic Iconography: The high valleys of the Mount Bego region, in the Southern Alps, house a significant corpus of rock art from the recent Prehistory (4th – 2nd millennium BC). Among these thousands of engravings, at least four anthropomorphs, attributed to the Late Neolithic, share a peculiar feature: their feet are turned inward. This anatomical anomaly is reminiscent of the pathology known as bilateral clubfoot (equinovarus or talipes). If the identification hypothesis is correct, and considering the context surrounding these representations – namely, the development of copper metallurgy in northern Italy and the southern Alpine arc – it may be necessary to recognize these as the earliest occurrences of orthopedic conditions that, by nature, afflict mythical blacksmiths.”
The video has full-screen subtitles in English. If you would like to see one or more slides without subtitles, click on the CC Closed Captions icon in the bottom right of the YouTube screen (you can toggle on and off) or similarly in the Settings icon to its right, sub-titles.
View at https://youtu.be/TT0gW0Dpog8?si=vyiCu7EKVXmRyazB&t=0
His conference presentation is similar to the written version in Les Nouvelles de l’Archéologie n°165, 2021 which you can read here too: https://clarencebicknell.com/wp-content/uploads/pieds-bots_vallee_des_merveilles_en_francais.pdf
You can contact us at info@clarencebicknell.com or Jules for further information:
Jules Masson Mourey, Docteur en Préhistoire de l’Université d’Aix-Marseille
Chercheur associé à TRACES (UMR 5608), Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès
Membre correspondant de la Société archéologique du Midi de la France
https://univ-amu.academia.edu/JulesMassonMourey
julesmassonmourey@yahoo.fr