Tayac, the Mother of Les Eyzies

July 8, 2008

Tayac, the tiny but very picturesque village just 10 min. walk from the center of Les Eyzies is often overlooked by the majority of visitors passing through Les Eyzies.
Up untill the early 1900’s Les Eyzies de Tayac was simply known as “Tayac”. Tayac is more than 600 years older than Les Eyzies, and one of the oldest villages in the Dordogne region.
Tayac is historically extremely rich, it was not just the roaming grounds of our Prehistoric ancestors, but the Celts , Romans and Gauls all left their markings on the area.

In the early 12th century 6 Monks from the Monastery of Paunat were travelling between Monasteries when one of the Monks became very ill, they set up camp in Tayac near a water source. The monk was dieing, but miraculously healed after drinking the water from the “Tayac Source”. To the Monks of Paunat this was a “Sign” and round about 1123 they started building the magnificent and fortified church of Tayac, they called it “St Martin“.
At the same time, the Monks of Paunat started working the land in this lush Vezere valley, they built the farmhouse / monastery, which is now “Ferme de Tayac” that has been completely renovated, and is now a lovely B&B opposite the church.
For hundreds of years the Monks lived here and worked the lands, bit by bit houses were built against the rock.
The water from the “Tayac Source” was taken to other surrounding Monasteries, for it’s healing powers, Tayac was thriving.
Two centuries later, things took a turn, wars were breaking out, armies were constantly attacking areas and strongholds. Religion and all that went with it lost it’s power, and very slowly the life in and around Tayac became what it is today. St. Martin still stands proud, and is without doubt the nicest Fortified Church in the Perigord, the “Tayac Source” is still there, although no longer in use.

During construction for a railroad in 1868, a rock shelter in a limestone cliff was uncovered. Near the back of the shelter, an occupation floor was recognized, and when excavated, it revealed the remains of four adult skeletons, one infant, and some fragmentary bones. The Link between Prehistoric Man and Modern Man had been found in Tayac.

Recommended accommodation in Les Eyzies de Tayac:

Ferme de Tayac B&B in 12th Century former farmhouse / monasteryB&B Ferme de Tayac : www.fermedetayac.com Lovely B&B in a 12th Century former farmhouse / monastery opposite the fortified church of St. Martin

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Personal Historic Guide Vezere Valley

May 7, 2008

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Vezere Valley’s Prehistoric Underground Museums

January 16, 2008

The most emotional moment of a visit to the prehistoric cave of Lascaux in southwestern France a few weeks ago was seeing handprints of the humans who created the most beautiful art of the Stone Age. They really were there, 15,000 years ago.

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Caves decorated with art from the late Paleolithic period, approximately 10,000 to 30,000 years ago, have been found only in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Russia and Mongolia. The largest cluster of Paleolithic art caves dot the Dordogne department of southwestern France the Vezere Valley, which is honeycombed ,with limestone caves and towering cliff shelters eaten out by glaciers and underground rivers as long as 140 million years ago. In this underground network, with constant temperature and humidity and isolation from light, the art has been very well preserved.

The most exciting sites open to visitors in the Dordogne include Lascaux, Font-de-Gaume, with drawings of bison, horses and deer; Combarelles, where Stone Age people left more than 300 engravings, and Cap Blanc, offering 14 animals gracefully sculptured in deep relief.

Cave art had been seen by villagers as least as far back as the 16th century, according to graffiti in the vast cavern at Rouffignac. But it was assumed to be modern until an explorer announced in 1880 that the paintings in the Altamira cave were prehistoric.

The notion of art as ancient as 30,000 years before the birth of Christ was met with skepticism on the ground that it conflicted with Christian belief. Only in the 20th century did scientists agree that humans indeed discovered how to artfully draw, sculpture and carve engravings during the Stone Age.

The Louvre of all the caverns is Lascaux. The cave entrance, less than a mile south of Montignac on the Vezere River, was sealed from harmful air for centuries by landslides. After trees covering the entrance were uprooted by a storm, four teen-agers seeking buried treasure discovered the cave in 1940.

Opened to tourists in 1948, Lascaux had to be closed in 1963 after green algae and white calcium deposits attacked the paintings. An exact copy built in cement nearby was inaugurated in November 1984. The cement cannot be harmed by bacteria and outside air and the paintings are covered with a transparent film.

Contrary to widespread belief, the original Lascaux, guarded by a wire fence and two German shepherds, can be seen by qualified people. Applicants connected with science, journalism, teaching, art, museums, even politics, have received invitations after waiting for months.

On an authorized visit one recent day, a guide, Jacques Marsal, led the way past the dogs and wooden towers with instruments that record humidity, temperature and air pressure in the cave, monitored by the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Visitors must wet the soles of their shoes in antiseptic and descend to the dark, cold cave through three anterooms that keep out air. Then the electric lights go on, and the stereotype of the Stone Age brute is crushed. The cave gleams with delicate drawings in ocher and brick red, outlined in deepest black by artists who were obviously sensitive people. Deer with graceful horns, drawn with sensual lines, recall works of Picasso. The guide’s flashlight plays on a splendid herd of deer, apparently clambering out of water, each with a different expression, each in a different position.

On the cold stone walls, a calf stumbles before a three-sided square that could depict a trap. A horse falls over a cliff, its face showing fright, possibly depicting organized stampedes to slaughter animals.

”The artists painted the outline of each animal all in one movement without hesitation, quite a feat,” says the guide.

The final shock is emerging from the Stone Age cave to see white trails from jet fighters crisscrossing the blue sky. A two-minute walk downhill stands Lascaux II, the cement reproduction built by the owner of the land and the state, now the proprietor.

Molded above ground by 12 Brazilian, Greek and French sculptors over nine years, the cave is a feat in itself as the cement truly resembles rock. A French artist worked seven years with prehistoric tools and pigments to copy the paintings from photographs. The copiers even repeated holes where the prehistoric artists had inserted logs to stand on so they could reach a high ceiling to paint a circle of horses reminiscent of Chinese art.

The reproduction is impressive. But the ancient Lascaux, like any original artwork, is worth the wait. Lascaux II lacks the impact of antiquity, and the drawings appear flat because the real Lascaux walls glisten with crystals.

Some 200 paintings and 1,500 engravings decorate Lascaux I, which is 819 feet long. Lascaux II, 131 feet long, displays 100 or so paintings and no engravings.

Those startling handprints are a frequent motif in art of the late Paleolithic period. Handprints fringe paintings in the Pech Merle grotto, including one of a black polka-dotted horse. Two hundred fifteen handprints, usually of the left hand, decorate the Gargas cave in the Hautes-Pyrenees department near Spain.

Experts say 11 footprints at Pech Merle were those of a woman and child. They believe women and children often visited the caves to see the art, or to worship. The caves are believed to have been sanctuaries, devoted to the worship of animals, magic or the hunt, but scientists do not know for sure. The guides emphasize that prehistoric people were not ”cave men.” Because of the dampness of grottos and the need to build fires, Cro-Magnon people lived only at cave entrances, in minuscule caves or under overhangs of giant cliffs.

Patterns emerge in their art. Most of the subjects are grass-eaters such as horses, bison, deer, reindeer and ibex. Less numerous are meat-eating mammoths and rhinoceroses, which once roamed France, boars, wolves and fox, plus fish, birds and reptiles. A fish was engraved on the ceiling of a riverside shelter north of Les Eyzies, a Dordogne town dotted with prehistoric sites that calls itself the Prehistoric Capital of the World.

Drawings of humans are rare and not realistic. Men appear more often than women (although many prehistoric statuettes of women have been dug from sites throughout the world). In Lascaux, a man falls dead before a bull pierced with a spear, its entrails dangling. Arrows were thrust into men drawn at Lascaux, Pech Merle and Cougnac, north of Cahors. Evidence of war? Experts say flints have not been found in Paleolithic skeletons, but they have in later Neolithic graves after agriculture was discovered and people became property owners, and thus could have been defenders and aggressors.

The Cro-Magnons painted under the light of small stone lamps, which have been found in cave digs. They applied charcoal, ocher or red and yellow pigments of oxidized iron with brushes or their fingers or dabbed on colors with fur or blew them through tubes. Engravings were made with bone, horn or stone.

The art is seldom seen near cave entrances, perhaps for religious reasons – or because paintings near airy entrances did not last. The gigantic grotto at Rouffignac offers a mile and a half ride on a small train to view paintings of mammoths, some overdrawn with graffiti of modern explorers.

At Cap Blanc, near Les Eyzies, a 14,000-year-old frieze of five horses, carved in relief, rivaling those of ancient Greece, was even more ruined by the pickaxes of overenthusiastic diggers in the 20’s.

A visitor can see the major Paleolithic caves in the Dordogne within a week.

Most tours are in French, although descriptive pamphlets in English, Spanish and German are sold in most grottos. Large luxury chain hotels are absent, in favor of small, comfortable hotels.

Perigord and Quercy restaurants serve local specialties such as foie gras, truffles, walnuts and wild mushrooms. Canoeing and swimming in rivers and visiting more chateaus than are found in the Loire valley are other temptations.

But the passion for prehistory is catching. At La Madeleine, a site near Les Eyzies, prehistoric families lived in a riverside cliff shelter to be near fish. In the ninth century, about 80 people lived higher up, apparently so they could hurl stones on invading Vikings. The visitor turns away from the cliffside village, disappointed. Ninth century? That’s modern.

Our recommended accommodation near Lascaux and all the other Vezere Valley Caves:

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Limeuil

December 15, 2007

At the confluence of the Dordogne and Vezere Rivers, Limeuil offers canoeing and a river beach, and a pretty little village that is well worth exploring.

The village is still partly surrounded by its original fortified walls, and is another of the ‘picture postcard pretty’ villages of the Dordogne, with cobbled streets winding between honey-coloured houses and pretty gardens.

Despite its picturesque location it is not usually completely overrun with tourists in the way that some places are, and the Parc Limeuil at the top of the town, while not spectacular as a park, has some fine views and is usually quiet.

A very pleasant place to escape the crowds.

A short stroll around the village gives a taste of the diversity on offer; at the foot of the two magnificent bridges, built in 1891, a sandy beach leads down into the clear water. A little further along, the 15th century port entrance which leads up to an extremely steep street is carved with the water levels reached during the great floods.
Getting to the top of the village is hard, but rewarding, work – take the time to study the medieval architecture on the way up. At the Place des Fossés, the château gardens provide a wonderful view over the river confluence, the rooftops and terraced gardens. The black Virgin Mary in St Catherine’s Church was the patron saint of the river traders.

The visitor can go from the blacksmith, to the glass-blower. Limeuil enjoys many sporting activities including canoeing, horse riding and mountain-biking. The holiday-maker will find plenty of welcoming hotels, restaurants and campsites.

Evidence of the period when Aquitaine was English can be found on the Bugue road leading out of the village: St Martin’s Chapel was built in 1194 to expiate the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, St Thomas à Becket

A Brief History

The site of Limeuil has been lived on since prehistoric times (various artefacts dating from approximately 10,000 BC have been found). Limeuil, listed as « One of the Most Beautiful Villages of France », is essentially a medieval village as the three fortified gateways and ruins of the castle and ramparts testify.

What to See

On the edge of the village is a museum garden where different plants and methods of cultivation take the visitor a journey through time from the Stone Age to the Renaissance period.
The natural beauty spot formed by the bend in the river offers a superb view.

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Castelnaud

December 15, 2007

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Les Eyzies and the Cro Magnon

December 8, 2007

Skull of Cro Magnon found in Les EyziesCro-Magnons are recognized as the earliest know race of modern humans, Homo sapiens. Generally considered the earliest European descendants, Cro-Magnons lived between 10,000 and 35,000 years ago. The first Cro-Magnon specimens were discovered in France in 1868 along with many sophisticated tools, artifacts and cave paintings. Cro-Magnons are credited with creating the first calendar nearly 34,000 years ago

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History of the Dordogne

December 1, 2007

Quiet and tranquil now, the Dordogne region has had a tumultuous past. This history has left its mark all over the region, so before any visit to the region it is useful to have a brief understanding of the history of the area, so that the caves and dwellings,the castles and the bastides, the culture and the heritage, are set in context.

There are several significant stages to the history of the Dordogne region:

PREHISTORY

There is evidence across the region of the prehistoric activity, most clearly seen in the numerous cave paintings. The caves at Lascaux are perhaps the finest example anywhere, and date from approximately 15,000 years ago. But man had lived in the area for perhaps 400-500,000 years prior to this high point. Initially as Homo erectus, but he gave way later (100,000 years ago) to Neanderthal man, who was more capable at making tools.

The caves of the area provided ‘quality accommodation to these individuals trying to escape the cold of the last ice age, and also enabled them to hunt for reindeer and mammoths. It is likely that when the ice age ended, and the reindeer moved north, this first early period of semi-civilisation came to an end.

It was about 35,000 years ago that humans ‘as we know them’ arrived – homo-sapiens, as Cro-Magnon man. They co-existed with Nenderthal man for about 5,000 years. It was Cro-magnon man who brought hunting and painting skills to the region. This period, which lasted until approximately 10,000 years ago, was the period in which the paintings of Lascaux caves etc were created.

From that period, until 2500 years ago there were fundamental changes in lifestyle. Hunting gave way in part to raising cattle for food, and food-gathering gave way to agriculture and the planting of crops. Decorative pottery was made, and towards the end of this period copper implements were also made.

History of the Dordogne after 2000 BC – the Celts and the Romans

Life in the Dordogne continued to improve. Bronze implements were made, horses were trained and used for hunting, and more sophisticated dwellings were constructed from rock – there are many dolmens in the region that remain from this period.

The wheel was invented, and when used with animals that could pull carts, will have had a substantial impact on the lifestyle of early man. But meanwhile greater, more efficient civilisations were developing elsewhere and these wre to change the Dordogne (and the world) for ever.

The Celts moved across France and reached the area about 2500 years ago. Much more sophisticated than the inhabitants at that time, they were skilled at metalworking, and developed trade routes across France and Europe. They lived in towns, usually constructed on hilltops for defensive reasons, where a complex administrative function was established.

They created the first cities, including the city that is now Perigueux.

The Romans arrive in the Dordogne

The life of the celts – gauls as they were known now – was soon to be disrupted by the arrival of the Romans. 2,200 years ago, in 56 BC, they moved into the Dordogne under Publius Crassus, a lieutenant of Caesar, and rapidly conquered the gauls.

In AD 16 Aquitaine was born, as Aquitania, covering a large part of South West France. The fertile land rapidly attracted new Roman settlers, who brought ever more advanced agricultural techniques to the region, and constructed buildings, towns and cities that were very sophisticated.

The chief Roman towns in the region were at Perigueux and Cahors.

Romans also brought their language and culture to the Dordogne, and introduced the first vines to the region. The rich among them lived in splendid villas, at the centre of large farming complexes.

Numerous remains from the Roman period exist in the region, although not in the scale that they are found.

Vandals , Francs and Moors

Constant attacks on all fronts weakened the Roman empire, and these intensified after about 300 years of occupation. Various tribes from eastern europe invaded the region, constantly attempting to take the fertile lands from the Roman occupiers.

The Vandals and Visigoths were the most successful at displacing the Romans. Many of the fine villas and towns that had been established were destroyed, and new towns started to be developed with defensive walls and fortifications. There are many examples of fortified towns to be seen in the Dordogne region.

The vandals and visigoths had a short lived victory, because by the beginning of the 6th century they too were defeated by the Francs.

The Moors from the south were soon to follow, and took control of the area in the eighth century, before being themselves defeated. A tumultuous time of change in the Dordogne region of France, with Charlemagne expanding the boundaries further.

The Vikings then invaded from the north during the 10th century, burning villages and destroying everything else in their path as they moved along the Dordogne and Isle rivers.

The vikings too were eventually repelled. As part of the repulsion of the Vikings, four ‘baronies’ were established – Beynac, Biron, Mareuil and Bourdeilles. This provided the backdrop for much of what happened in the region over the following centuries, with powerful central families controlling much of the Dordogne.

By 1000 AD a number of towns that we still recognise had been established across the region.

The Middle Ages

During the Middle ages many of the bastide towns in the area were founded. Many are still in existence nowadays (see Towns’).

Eleanor of Aquitaine was next to cause problems in the area. She inherited much of Aquitaine, and married the King of France, Louis VII. But this marriage was annulled after 15 years, and Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet. Henry then became king of England, and a large part of France thus fell under English rule. Not surprisingly this caused some tensions! The problem was to cause rivalries that lasted hundreds of years. The problem was compounded when Eleanor and Henry had a troublesome son – Richard the Lionheart. When King Henry died, Richard inherited the throne of England and all its French lands.

In 1328, following the deaths of the 3 sons of Philippe le Bel, the French selected Philippe Count of Valois to be king, in place of Edward III. Edward III was the king of England and was also the nephew of the deceased French king.

Later, things got worse still, and in 1337 Philippe VI ordered that the lands of Aquitaine be taken from the English. In 1340 Edward III declared himself King of France. Thus the Hundred Years War began. During the Hundred Years war there were numerous ‘famous’ battles including the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The war was all but lost for the French, and it was agreed that Henry V was the heir to the French throne. But then Henry V died unexpectedly, leaving only a baby as his heir.

Soon after the young Joan of Arc appeared on the scene and remotivated the French king – now Charles VII – and his armies. It was in 1451 at the Battle of Castillon the English were finally defeated (a battle now spectacularly recreated each year for the enjoyment of tourists).

The 16th century led to further troubles, with numerous sieges, battles and unlimited cruelty during the Wars of Religion (between the catholics and the protestants) that ravaged the region. Several massacres of entire towns took place, and much of the earlier heritage of the Dordogne was destroyed.

It was only in 1598, when the Edict of Nantes granted certain freedoms to the protestants, that the battles came to an end.

The 17th and 18th centuries

Across the whole of France the 17th and 18th centuries were an unsettled time.

Centuries of battles had weakened the region, the Black death was rampant, and there were many years in which the harvests were poor. Food shortages, price rises and falling wages all made life very difficult for the poor, while the rich appeared to get ever richer, based in part on a series of unpopular taxes. Meanwhile the region experienced enormous population growth, further compounding the problems.

It is hard to imagine the desperation of a people who can simply see no escape from the terrible poverty, the high mortality rate and the daily struggle to survive.

The final straw was the imposition of a heavy salt tax on the region, and many people were living in constant destitution, virtually enslaved to the landowners and state.

This poverty also encouraged bands of ‘pirates’ to cross the countryside, pillaging villages as they went. The villagers were especially aggrieved that the landowners, despite receiving large amounts of tax, were unable to prevent these attacks.

This was more than could be tolerated and in 1594 there was a peasant revolt, touching much of the region between Bergerac and Sarlat.

A small victory was obtained, with a slight lifting of the taxes, but the victory was short-lived and for many years there were frequent uprisings against the landowners, almost always met with excessive force and reprisals. The revolts usually pitted peasants armed with pitchforks and agricultural implements against much better armed forces, so the outcome was not surprising.

These uprisings continued more or less sporadically until the time of the French Revolution.

Revolution, Napoleon, and after

Things reached a head in 1789, although more in Paris than the rest of the country.

The French Revolution overturned the existing regime and led to a time of great troubles in France, known as the Great Terror, which lasted until 1794 with much death and witch-hunting. The moderate Girondins based in Bordeaux suffered greatly during these years.

Only 10 years later, in 1804, Napoleon had leapt to power and been crowned emperor, to enormous popular support from the people. His fame and reputation relied largely on his great victories in wars with neighbouring countries, but he also had great success with a new legal code, the Napoleonic Code, which is still the foundation of the modern French legal system.

Many people from the Dordogne region joined the armies of Napoleon, which continued to enjoy success until the disastrous march on Moscow in 1812. This defeat was followed by others and napoleon was finally removed at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Poverty in the south-west of France increased still further, helped by the abolition of the slave trade which had formed an important part of Bordeaux revenues. But as the 19th century progressed some semblance of normality returned and the poverty levels decreased significantly.

Towards the end of the 19th century two new trends were seen that continue to this day. The first is tourism, and the second is rural depopulation. Unfortunately it took tourism another 100 years to catch up with the exodus of the young from the area, and to start to rebuild and reconstruct some of the long abandoned buildings and villages.

Finally it must be noted in tribute that many French from the region lost their lives at war during the 20th century, albeit that the battlefields were far away in northern France. Almost all villages in the Dordogne have a war memorial commemorating the young people of the region lost in the war.

The people of the Dordogne region also played an active role in the resistance movement during the second World War, and there are several locations that you will come across where there are memorials and tributes to these events.

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