Terra Amata is an archaeological site near the French town of Nice.

Reconstruction of a prehistoric (Acheulean) occupation site, plaster casts, documents on the site of an elephant hunters’ camp in Nice 400,000 years ago.

Terra Amata was an open site with finds of Acheulean flint tools dating it to the Lower Paleolithic. It was excavated by a team of archaeologists led by Henri de Lumley, who believed the site contained a series of superimposed living floors and who interpreted arrangements of stones at the site as the foundations of huts or windbreaks. This interpretation would make them some of the earliest examples of human habitation ever found.

Not far from the port, the modern building housing this little museum stands on the very place where the 400,000 year old prehistoric site of Terra Amata was discovered. The exhibition describing prehistoric fauna, flora, climate and tools, is educational but easy to understand. Information is in French, English and occasionally Italian and German. At the end of the visit, a series of small models recreate the evolution of prehistoric man's environment.

Admission: is EUR 3.80, EUR2.30 for students, free for under-18s and on the first and third Sundays of the month.

Open Hours: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm