It was previously a distinct island named La Motte-aux-Papelards, built mainly of debris from the cathedral's construction. Baron Haussmann designated it as the new location for the Paris morgue in 1864, and it stayed there for the next fifty years. In 1914, it was decided to move the body bags back into the city so that Paris could have one less thing to worry about during the war. Today, we know it as Île de la Cité, after the district it occupies. The Ile de la Cité has been part of Paris since the end of World War I. Before that, it was just another in a long line of small islands that lie within the Seine River. The Ile de la Cité is mostly modern buildings, with some ancient monuments (such as the Notre Dame Cathedral) scattered around its perimeter. It's even connected to the rest of Paris by two bridges! The first human inhabitants of the Ile de la Cité were probably hunters and gatherers who came here about 10,000 years ago. They built large piles of stones on top of each other to make houses, and they left their mark in the form of many cave shelters spread throughout the island. These are all that's left today from those early people.