| The history of Vaujany is deeply bound up in that of the Dauphiné. |
Vaujany, situated in such a topographically sensitive and strategic zone of passage has surely been occupied since the earliest times . Neolithic and pre-Neolithic vestiges have never , as such, been unearthed in Vaujany itself , although such incursions are renowned in the Alps from 800 BC on , but high altitude Bronze age dwellings ( 800 BC ) have been revealed on another alpine French- Italian pass near the Col du Lautaret.
Celtic bands populated the Romanche valley , 10 km away , and gave their name to the district or canton in French " Oisans " from the Celt - Ucennis...
The Romans also came , conquered - and departed , leaving behind them in the Massif de Grandes Rousses traces of their road building and mining mastery due to the Grandes Rousses abounding in copper ,silver and coal.
After came the Alamans from Switzerland ; the Burgondes , ( Viking relatives ) . The fearsome Lombards swept through the mountains to be followed several centuries later by the swarthy Sarrazins who left traces of their farming culture in the form of an irrigation canal in the neighbouring village of Villard-Reculas. Their desire for precious metals was also notorious.
While all that may seem somewhat dated , even abstract , - it is the history of Vaujany , -revealing the origins of our culture , our genetic base , - reflected in ourselves today.
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The wolf burners.
As is typical everywhere , man's past and history can be intimately correlated to that of his environment...
Our eldest forefathers first frequented and adapted themselves to our mountains - in pursuit of the game . The initial environment indubitably invited itself to be tamed. The forest and indiginous flora inevitably opened the way - by burning , - for cultivable plots and terraces.
Why - wolf burners ? .. Because , firstly - the forests provided the shelter and concealment neccessary for these redoubtable adversaries to mans evolution in the domestication of animals , but secondly , - this same deforestation corresponded to our common day aspirations concerning grazing and agriculture . It might be pointed out ( though some will find the observation contentious) ,- that territorially hungry predators , ( such as man , - seen with a little evolutionary objectivity ) , rarely succeed in finding an equitable balance involving proximity relationships to other neighbouring carnivores . Competition and conflict more commonly result . Which ever way it's looked at , man's contact with wolves has frequently generated tales and legends . In our modern times , more realism and emphasis on precision might seem pertinent.
Little did our forefathers realise , as they lit the woods , that they were upsetting the delicate ecological balance between the forest floor with it's root network , and the mountain's soil structure . Hundreds , thousands of years later we're still witnessing the result , in the form of landslip, landslides and accentuated avalanche activity. |
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