Born August 25 1911, Paris. Died February 19 1986.
Education
- 1931 : Diploma in Russian from the École Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes
- 1933 : Diploma in Chinese from the École Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes
- 1945 : Doctor of Letters
- Principal thesis : Archaeology of the North Pacific
- Supplementary thesis : Documents pour l'art comparé d'Eurasie septentrionale (Documents on the comparative art of northern Eurasia)
- 1954 : Doctor of Science
- Principal thesis : Les tracés d'équilibre mécanique du crâne des vertébrés terrestres (Mechanical equilibrium patterns in the skull of terrestrial vertebrates)
- Complementary thesis : Étude des restes humains fossiles provenant des grottes d'Arcy sur Cure (Study of fossil human remains from the caves of Arcy sur Cure)
Professional career
- 1940-1945 : Researcher, then Senior Researcher at CNRS
- 1945-1950 : Acting Deputy Director of the Musée de l'Homme
- 1945-1955 : Professor at the Faculté des Lettres de Lyon (ethnology, prehistory)
- 1956-1968 : Professor at the Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines de Paris (general ethnology, prehistory)
- 1969-1982 : Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Prehistory
- 1963-1982 : Co-director of the Institut d'Ethnologie de l'Université de Paris, Director of the Centre de Recherches préhistoriques et protohistoriques (CNRS research team), then of the CNRS 275 " Ethnologie préhistorique " laboratory
- Deputy Director of Gallia (Gallia Préhistoire), a journal published by the CNRS
- Member of the Conseil supérieur de la Recherche archéologique
- Member of the Scientific Council of the Centre national de Préhistoire
- 1966 : Honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva
- 1980 : Member of the Institute, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres
- Corresponding member of École Française d'Extrême Orient, Prehistoric Society of Great Britain, Deutsches archaeologisches Institut
