An Invention Shading Light to the Socio-History of Bonneuil Quarry Basin: The Roadheaders with Rotating Drill Bits

Abstract

The Bonneuil quarry basin is located in the North-East of Paris; it played a role in the well-known stone trade for Paris and its surroundings in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. Stonecutters of this area mainly used the extraction with the lance, a long iron spin bear by a scaffolding. This tool helped the quarrymen speed up their work allowing them to be competitive in trading. At the end of the 1930s, Martial Lefèvre, a wealthy owner of quarries in the Bonneuil’s basin, created a machine, roadheaders with rotating drill bits, following the movement of his quarrymen using the lance. The story of this machine was also involved in the Second World War and the occupation of France. Merging modern archaeology, history, and archaeology of technique, the aim of this paper is to explore the transition between hand tools and mechanical tools through the chaîne opératoire filter, a subject that is currently little studied. It also crossed the path of the delicate story of a small industry during one of the most events in France, the Second World War. Using it as an example, this article questions the status of these quarries during and after this main event.