Breuil, Abbé (Henri Edouard Prosper) (1877-1961)

French prehistorian. He was an authority on the Palaeolithic era (Old Stone Age) and prehistoric art. He made detailed studies of decorated caves in France, Spain, China, Ethiopia, and southern Africa, specializing in the tracing of prehistoric rock art, especially Palaeolithic cave art, which he interpreted in terms of hunting and fertility magic.

Breuil discovered caves at Combarelles and Font de Gaume in the Dordogne, France. His works include Quatre cents siècles d'art pariétal/Four Hundred Centuries of Cave Art 1952.

Breuil was born in Mortain, Normandy. He became a professor at the Institute of Human Palaeontology in Paris, and at the Collège de France.