It was during the European Heritage Days that a small ceremony was held at the town hall of Mazères-sur-Salat, in the presence of mayor Albert Cigagna, paying tribute to René Ferré, a Mazerian well known to the population. As he himself says with modesty: “I have always been interested in what could happen around my town. Whether during the last war, but also for the restoration of the Sainte-Matrone chapel where the local heritage .”
“Pebble Finder”
This time it is his past as a “rock seeker”, as he calls himself, that is being referred to. Daniel Quettier, president of the Société Méridionale de Spéléologie et de Préhistoire (SMSP), has published the very latest bulletin of the Society devoted to the collection of “Lithic Vestiges (relating to stone) prehistoric periods between Garonne and Salat” by René Ferré.
What is the SMSP ? It was founded in Toulouse in 1947 by Professor Vandel (biologist) and Louis Meroc (prehistorian). These two scientists of great authority in their discipline, had set as their goal the study of the Underworld in all its forms. “Indeed,” explains Daniel Quettier, “to put an end to the flight of archaeological remains from our regions abroad in 1947, it was decided to create this company. For example, everything that was found in Montespan was already left for the USA. The SMSP therefore set up Prehistoric Antiquities, which will become the Regional Archeology Service, in order to identify all local discoveries and preserve them in France.
“Knowing Mr. Ferré’s collection,” he continues, “and the pieces he collected were not precisely located, it was necessary to formalize his discoveries, otherwise it would all have gone to waste.
They must be listed and identified, plot by plot. We photographed them, and as a result his collection was saved.
All characteristics are recorded in the latest bulletin of the Society. There are around a hundred pieces which will eventually go to the Regional Archeology Service.”
“Everything that we can find in our garden or in the fields does not belong to us,” explains René Ferré. “All of this belongs to world heritage and must be known to everyone.”
In fact, SMSP publications are online, with free access: smsp-speleo.blogspot.com/ As for René Ferré’s bulletin, it will also be online on the website of the municipality of Mazères-sur-Salat .
