The Rock of Vergisson is a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

peak in

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is Bo ...

, France.

Geography

The Rock of Vergisson is a sharp escarpment located in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Vergisson Vergisson () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Wine The vineyards of Vergisson form part of the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' Pouilly-Fuissé. Gallery Vue Vergi ...

, in the south of

Bourgogne Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

. It is less than 2 km as the crow flies from the

Rock of Solutré The Rock of Solutré (French: ''Roche de Solutré'') is a limestone escarpment west of Mâcon, France, overlooking the commune of Solutré-Pouilly. It is an iconic site in the department of Saône-et-Loire, in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Protecte ...

. It is 485 metres high, about 8 metres shorter than its neighbour.

Geology and History

The Rock of Vergisson has the same geological origins as the Rock of Solutré: a

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

plateau from the

Mesozoic era The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising ...

, raised and tilted from the east during the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...

era, and exposed by differential

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

. During

prehistoric times Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

, the rock was a site of habitation, while the neighboring Rock of Solutré was a

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

site.

Activity

Viticulture

Vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s enclosed by

dry stone wall Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction me ...

s ( French: ''murgers'') can be found on the slopes of the rock, producing wines of the

Pouilly-Fuissé Pouilly-Fuissé () is an ''appellation'' (AOC) for white wine in the Mâconnais subregion of Burgundy in central France, located in the communes of Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly, Vergisson and Chaintré. Pouilly-Fuissé has Chardonnay as the ...

and Mâcon-Vergisson denominations.

Environmental protection

The area including the Rocks of Solutré and Vergisson and Mont Pouilly has been classified as a ''site naturel et rural'' since 1955.

Sport

The limestone cliffs of the rocks are, along with the cliff at Remigny, one of the two most important sights for climbing in the

departement In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

, with more than 122 identified routes. Every year, the ''Randonnée des deux Roches'' (walk of the two rocks) takes place, which runs from Solutré to Vergisson. In 1992,

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

decided to climb the Rock of Vergisson to escape from

journalists A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. The rocks of Solutré and Vergisson were described by

Alphonse de Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...

as ''deux navires pétrifiés surplombant une mer de vignes'' (two petrified ships overlooking a sea of vineyards).

References

{{reflist Escarpments of Europe Landforms of Saône-et-Loire