Why go
This is context for the Rock’s long human history rather than a separate itinerary. Cave finds near the Exotic Garden and the Grimaldi burials show why the sheltered coast appears in accounts of prehistory, while the shared name can otherwise be misleading.
The full story
The rocky coast offered shelter to prehistoric groups well before the town or principality existed. The source records animal bones in a cave near the Exotic Garden and traces of human occupation from several periods of the Palaeolithic. It also mentions finds in the Observatory and Prince’s caves. These fragments suggest repeated use of caves and rock shelters rather than a continuous settlement that can be mapped onto modern Monaco. Later burials and cave art add a more personal scale to this deep past. A burial known as the “Grimaldi” find held a woman and an adolescent; its name should not be confused with the princely House of Grimaldi, which entered Monaco’s history many thousands of years later. When looking at the heavily built-up coast today, the important contrast is between the present city and the older terrain of caves, headland and natural harbour.