René Neuville

René Neuville (30 October 1899, Gibraltar – 23 June 1952, Jerusalem) was a French prehistorian and diplomat posted to the French consulate in Jerusalem.

Diplomatic career Neuville's father was the consul general of France in Gibraltar. He entered the diplomatic service at a young age and was first posted to Vintimille in Italy. In 1926, he was named chancellor to the French consulate in Jerusalem, where he stayed for eleven years.

He was appointed to Alicante in 1937, then with the onset of the Second World War to Gibraltar and Morocco, where he continued his archaeological research. In 1943, he was in Algiers and Tunis. In 1946, he returned to Jerusalem as consul general and resumed his archaeological work, though he was also occupied with diplomatic duties. Mallon in particular became a mentor to Neuville; the two went on to collaborate on excavations at Umm Qatafa, Through Buzy and Duvigneau, he developed ties with the Bedouin of Wadi Khureitun, who would sell their monastery artefacts they found when clearing out caves in the Judaean Desert.

Personal life Neuville's son, Pierre Neuville, also pursued a diplomatic career and conducted archaeological and palaeontological research.

Selected publications Avec Boureau R. Squelettes palestiniens du premier âge de bronze. In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, VIIIe Série. Tome 1 fascicule 4–6, 1930. pp. 33–36. « Quartiers d'Orange » de Palestine. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France, tome 28, No. 5, 1931. pp. 264–265.

L'Acheuléen supérieur de la Grotte d'Oumm-Qatafa (Palestine), Paris, Masson, 1931. Avec Alexis Mallon, Robert Koeppel :Teleilāt Ghassūl, I : compte rendu des fouilles de l'Institut biblique pontifical, 1929-1932, Rome, Piazza della Pilotta, 1934. Avec Armand Ruhlmann :La place du paléolithique ancien dans le quaternaire marocain, Casablanca : Farairre, 1941. Avec Ruhlmann A. : L'âge de l'Homme fossile de Rabat. In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, IXe Série. Tome 3, 1942. pp. 74–88. Demande d'appui pour le classement du site préhistorique de Sidi Abd er Rahman au Maroc. In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 86e année, N. 2–3, 1942. pp. 155–156. Heurs et malheurs des consuls de France à Jérusalem aux XVIIe, XVIIIe et XIXe siècles 2, Jérusalem, Azriel Printing Works, 1948. Le Néolithique marocain à anses funiculaires internes, Le Mans, Imprimerie Monnoyer, 1948. avec la collaboration de MM. Yaacov Bentor, G. Haas, J. Perrot et Raymond Vaufrey :Le paléolithique et le mésolithique du désert de Judée, Paris, Masson, 1951. - Prix Bordin 1952 de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. Station acheuléenne du Sinaï septentrional : Djebel el-Faleq. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France, tome 49, nos 1-2, 1952. pp. 77–80.