Édouard Piette

Édouard Louis Stanislas Piette (11 March 1827, Aubigny-les-Pothées – 5 June 1906, Rumigny) was a French archaeologist and prehistorian.

He studied the limestone formations of northeastern France and its fossils, and through this research he subsequently made the acquaintance of paleontologist Édouard Lartet and other scientists.

During a stay at the Bagnères-de-Luchon spa in the central Pyrenees, he became interested in the glacial geology of the area and the contents of its numerous caves.

From his excavatory findings at Mas-d'Azil in 1887, he introduced the "Azilian culture" to bridge the space between the local Paleolithic and Mesolithic phases.

Also, he proposed a subdivision of the French Paleolithic into the Amygdalithic, Niphetic and Glyptic phases, but the idea was not widely accepted by other archaeologists.