Editing Glozel artifacts (section)

{{Short description|Collection of artifacts discovered in France}}
{{distinguish|GloZell}}

{{More footnotes needed|date=July 2015}} 	

[[File:Glozel-vallon-2008.jpg|thumb|View of the area where Glozel is located]]

The '''Glozel artifacts''' are a collection of over 3,000 [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]], including forged clay tablets, sculptures and vases, some of which were inscribed, discovered from 1924 to 1930 in the vicinity of French hamlet of Glozel.<ref>'''Glozel''' ({{Coord|46|02|N|3|36|E|}}) is part of the [[commune in France|commune]] of [[Ferrières-sur-Sichon]] in the [[Allier]] department, some 17&nbsp;km from [[Vichy]] in central France.</ref>

Promoted by their discoverers as proof of an advanced prehistoric civilization, the finds initiated a series of claims and counterclaims. The objects were all initially dismissed as a hoax by professional archaeologists.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vayson de Pradenne |first1=A. |title=The Glozel Forgeries |journal=Antiquity |date=1933 |volume=4 |issue=14 |pages=201–222 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00004518 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/glozel-forgeries/382DEBC62AA4782C86E7F0201C9F3173  |access-date=  |language=en |issn=0003-598X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Later research confirmed that some of the items date back to the Iron Age,<ref name=McKerrell1974/> but it was not before a 1995 study ordered by the French Ministry for Culture that the "prehistoric civilization" thesis was rebutted and the vast majority of the finds dated to the Middle Ages, with significant presence of alterations and forgeries.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jean-Pierre|first1=Daugas|last2=J-P|first2=Démoule|last3=Jean|first3=Guilaine|last4=Didier|first4=Miallier|last5=Pierre|first5=Pétrequin|last6=Jean-Claude|first6=Poursat|title=Résumé des recherches effectuées à Glozel entre 1983 et 1990, sous l'égide du ministère de la culture|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/racf_0220-6617_1995_num_34_1_2730|journal=Revue archéologique du Centre de la France|accessdate=4 May 2018|language=fr-FR|date=1995|volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=251–259 }}</ref>