By decision of the President of the Republic, Nicole Pot will continue as Director General of Inrap for a further period of three years.

Nicole Pot has a degree in modern literature and studied at the National School of Administration. She was successively assistant director of the Musées de France, assistant director of the Caisse National des Monuments Historiques et des Sites, and Director General of the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie.

Appointed Inrap Director General in November 2003, Nicole Pot began, in 2004, the transformation of the Institute into a national research institution by reorganizing what had been inherited from the former Association pour les Fouilles Archaeologiques Nationales.

With 1,800 collaborators and a budget of 128 million euros (2006), Inrap is the largest archaeological research structure in France and one of the most important in Europe. This national public research institution was created in 2002 by a law passed in January 2001. It undertakes the majority of archaeological projects in partnership with private and public developers i.e: about 2,500 sites per year in mainland France and its overseas territories. In addition to evaluations and excavations realized in advance of development projects, its missions include full exploitation of research results and the archeological outreach to the general public.

Among the recent discoveries made by Inrap teams are a Neanderthal butchery site in Caours (Somme), megalithic alignments in Belz (Morbihan), the graves of Gallic cavaliers buried with their horses in Gondole (Puy-de-Dôme), the podium of a temple in Marseille (dating to the foundation of the city by the Phoceans in the 6th century BC), Gallo-Roman barges on the banks of the Saône in Lyon, a Merovingian cemetery in Bondy, Early Christian monuments (Ajaccio, Arles, Marseille, Roanne…), the Narbonnais Castle (residence of the counts of Toulouse), a Huguenot cemetery in Saint-Maurice (Val de Marne), a Napoleonic era camp at Etaples (Pas-de-Calais)…

Inrap has opened a research portal to make the results of its research accessible to researchers and the general public ( www.inrap.fr). It also offers a programme of colloquia and produces publications for researchers and the general public, in addition to exhibits and audiovisual documentaries.