• Home
• About
• Accommodation
• Partners
• Advertise
• Dordogne Directory
• Disclaimer
• Contact

Subscribe

Vezere Valley’s Prehistoric Underground Museums

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.

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:

Read more

Vezere Valley- 4 Excellent Venues

The Vezere river is a tributary of the Dordogne, and the two meet near Les Eyzies-de-Tayac before the Dordogne continues on toward Bordeaux and the Atlantic ocean. Near the village of Montignac, about 30 kilometers upstream on the Vezere, are some excellent and unique venues, including the famous Lascaux cave. Here are four that can be visited in one day.

1. Lascaux II- Lascaux is considered to be the number one prehistoric site in all of Europe. The paintings on the site date from 17,000 to 15,000 years ago. Shortly after that the cave entrances were closed by mudslides or other natural means, and thus the paintings were perfectly preserved until the modern era. The cave was rediscovered in 1940 by two local boys who were chasing their dog, and several years later it was opened to the public. However, in 1963 it was closed again, as it was discovered that too many people in the cave were causing the paintings to deteriorate. Since then only a few scientists, scholars or art historians per day were allowed in for several hours maximum. For the past few years even those limited visits have been stopped, as new signs of further deterioration have been observed. The French government, however, took up a 10 year project to make an exact duplicate of the cave. This effort, which opened in 1983, uses exactly the same pigments that were used by the Cro-Magnon artists thousands of years ago, and is dimensionally accurate to less than one inch of error. It is called Lascaux II, and is located only about 400 yards from the original cave.

The quality of the artwork is the main reason that Lascaux is considered the finest example of prehistoric cave paintings. Done with only oil lamps for light and using high scaffolding, the prehistoric artists who created this site were highly accomplished artists. Most of the guided visits to Lascaux II are conducted in French, but there are tours in English on most days. One needs to call the Lascaux ticket office in Montignac or the Montignac Office of Tourism to find out if and when there is an English tour on any given day. If you have a group they will probably set up an English tour for you and other English speakers, but this needs to be arranged in advance through the ticket office. Even though Lascaux II is a replica and not the original, it is very well done, very informative, and not to be missed.

2. St. Leon sur Vezere- This is another of the “Most Beautiful Villages of France”. Built in a picturesque loop of the Vezere river, this charming village possesses two castles and one of the finest Romanesque churches of the Perigord. The church was part of a Benedictine priory which was founded in the 12th century. It was built on the ruins of a Gallo-Roman villa. The remains of one of the villa’s walls can be seen on the river side. There is a picnic area next to the church on the banks of the river, and a café is nearby as well. This is an excellent spot to have a pleasant lunch or a refreshing drink.

3. La Roque St. Christophe (St. Christopher’s Rock) is a huge Troglodyte cave complex. For about a half mile in length this majestic cliff rises vertically above the Vezere valley to a height of over 250ft. It is like a huge hive with about 100 caves hollowed out of the rock on five tiers. Excavations have proved that the cliff dwellings were inhabited from the Upper Paleolithic Age onwards. In the 10th century the cliff terraces served as the foundation for a fortress which was used against the Vikings, and again later during the Hundred Years War. It was subsequently destroyed during the Wars of Religion at the end of the 16th century. The self-guided tour explains the evolution of human life at La Roque St. Christophe, which took place over many centuries . In fact even Neanderthal fossils have been found at this site and at other locations nearby.

4. Chateau de Losse- This renaissance chateau sits on the right bank of the Vezere river, and it has a large terrace that overlooks the river and offers picturesque views. The chateau is well known for its excellent furniture and tapestries, which can be seen on the guided tours. The tours are in French, but foreign language guides are available, and these are easy to follow so one does not miss anything. The tours are quite good, and one can also visit the well kept gardens and stroll around the outside of the chateau in the former moat area.

As stated earlier, these four venues in the Vezere Valley between Les Eyzies de Tayac and Montignac can easily be visited in one day, since they are relatively close and do not take too long to visit any of them. If one is staying nearby, in Les Eyzies de Tayac, for example, only about 25 kilometers away, a visit to these sites is well worth the effort.

Our recommended accommodation to visit these 4 venues:
B&B Ferme de Tayac. Lovely B&B in a 12th Century former farmhouse / monastery situated ideally in Les Eyzies de Tayac, the hart of the Vezere Valley and within 20 minutes from all of these attractions.
http://www.fermedetayac.com/

Castelnaud

Read more

Written by admin · Filed Under Historic Dordogne, Tourist Attractions, Towns & Villages 

Cave of Lascaux

December 8, 2007

Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the Dordogne département. They contain some of the most well-known (Upper Paleolithic) art, dating back to somewhere between 15,000 and 13,000 BCE. They consist mostly of realistic images of large animals, including aurochs, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. They were added to UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1979.

Read more

Written by admin · Filed Under Dordogne Videos, Tourist Attractions 

Video show of the Dordogne

December 8, 2007

The Dordogne is a beautiful region of South West France Between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the magnificent river that runs through it. However, locally it is known as the Périgord. This dates back to the time when the area was inhabited by the Gauls. There were four tribes living here and the name for “four tribes” in the Gaulish language was “Petrocore”, which after a few hundred years became the Périgord and its inhabitants became the Périgordin. To confuse things further there are four Périgords in the Dordogne. The “Périgord Verte” (Green Périgord) with its main town of Nontron, offers a greenery of verdant growth and valleys in a region crossed by a myriad of rivers and streams. The “Périgord Blanc” (White Périgord) situated around the regions capital of Périgueux, is a region of limestone plateaux, wide valleys and rolling meadows. The “Périgord Pourpre” (Purple Périgord) with its capital of Bergerac (the home of Cyrano). This is the wine region, with full bodied reds and sweet white Monbazilacs. The “Périgord Noir” (Black Périgord) surrounding its capital of Sarlat, overlooks the valleys of the Vézère and the Dordogne, where the woods of Oak and Pine give it its name.

We know very little about our ancestors. the Petrocores. Along with other peoples. they took part in the resistance against Rome. Far more spectacular, being concentrated in two or three major sites. are the vestiges of the Gallo-Roman period-the gigantic ruined tower and arenas in Périgueux our capital city (formerly Vesone), fascinating collections, the results of numerous archaeological digs at the Périgord museum. significant villa remains in Montcaret and the Roman tower of La Rigale Castle in Villetoureix. It is highly probable that the first cluzeaux. artificial caves either above or below ground that are found throughout the Dordogne, date back to these times. These subterranean refuges and lookout huts could shelter entire populations. We have confirmation from Julius Caesar that the Gauls took refuge there. They can be found just about anywhere and very few cliffs have had no holes at all made in them.

Since the Guienne province had returned to the Crown under the Plantagenets following the re marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152. Périgord passed by right under English suze-rainty. In fact, being situated at the limit of the areas of influence of the two monarchies of France and England, it was to oscillate between the two dynasties for a long time. Over three hundred years of incessant struggle until 1453 and the end of the Hundred Years War were to tear apart and, as a consequence, model its physiognomy.

With the end of the Hundred Years War, the Castillon plain on the banks of the Dordogne, during the calmer periods of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, saw a development in urban architecture. The finest Gothic and Renaissance residences were built in Périgueux, Bergerac and Sarlat. In the countryside, the nobility had the majority of our 1200 chateaux, manors and country houses erected. In the second half of the sixteenth century, however, they experienced attacks, pillaging and fires as the Wars of Religion reached a rare degree of violence in Périgord. At the time, Bergerac was one of the most powerful Huguenot stongholds, along with La Rochelle. Following these wars, Périgord, fief of Henry of Navarre. was to return to the Crown for good and suffer henceforth from the sudden political changes of the French nation, from the Revolution to the tragic hours of the Resistance. We also encounter the memory of its most illustrious literary figures: Bertran de Born, Michel de Montaigne. Etienne de La Boetie, Brantôme, Fenelon. Mahle de Biran, Eugene Le Roy and Andre Maurois; its great captains: Talleyrand, Saint-Exupery, Biron… and even Josephine Baker. A number of ruins (La Chapelle-Faucher, I’Herm…) have retained the memory of the tragedies which took place within their walls. Several of our castles and châteaux are open to visitors and some of them such as Bourdeilles and Mareuil, house remarkable collections.

In addition to its castles, chateaux, churches, Bastides and cave fortresses. Périgord has preserved from centuries past, a number of wonderful villages which still have their market hall, dovecotes, Tories (stone huts), church, abbey and castle (s). Saint-Leon-sur-Vezere, Conclat, Saint-Jefm-de-Cole, La Roque-Gageac and many others are real jewels of architecture. As for the old quarters of Périgueux or Bergerac, restored and developed into pedestrian areas, they have regained their former charm. A number of small towns, such as Brantôme, Issigeac. Eymet and Mareuil, have with-stood the often brash changes of modern times. A special mention should be made in this respect to Sarlat and Black Périgord.

Written by admin · Filed Under Dordogne Videos, Tourist Attractions 

Font de Gaume

November 21, 2007

Located near Les Eyzies, on the Sarlat road, Font-de-Gaume Cave is a showpiece of Magdalenian engravings and paintings from around 14 000 BC. The flints (chisels, scrapers, blades) and other things found in the cave during the excavations testify to a continual occupation since the Mousterian age, or the age of the Neandertals.Discovered in 1901 by D. Peyrony, the Cave, 130 m long, contains about 250 paintings. The visitor can only see 30 of them, the most beautiful ones and the best preserved. After 60 m underground, the “Rubicon” is the beginning of the decorated part of the cave, with red dots on the left wall. These caves were not used as dwellings, they were shrines, according to A. Leroi-GourhanThe Grotte de Font-de-Gaume is famous for its cave paintings from the Magdalénien period. It is entrance is 20 m above the valley floor of the Beune valley, at the lower edege of a huge limestone rock.

There are many polychrome paintings and some engravings. The 240 figures show 80 bisons, which are the dominant motive. Most other pictures are also animals, 40 mammoths, 23 horses, 17 reindeers and deer, eight primitive cow, four goats, a wolf, a bear, and two rhinoceroses. More interesting, but less frequent, are four hand outlines and 19 geometric figures.

Read more

Written by admin · Filed Under Tourist Attractions 

Caves of Lascaux

November 12, 2007

 

 

 

Lascaux is a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the Dordogne département. They contain some of the most well-known (Upper Paleolithic) art, dating back to somewhere between 15,000 and 13,000 BC. They consist mostly of realistic images of large animals, including aurochs, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. They were added to UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1979.

The cave was discovered on 12 September 1940 by four teenagers, Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, and Simon Coencas. Public access was made easier after World War II. By 1955, the carbon dioxide produced by 1,200 visitors per day had visibly damaged the paintings. The cave was closed to the public in 1963 in order to preserve the art. After the cave was closed, the paintings were restored to their original state, and are now monitored on a daily basis. Rooms in the cave include The Great Hall of the Bulls, the Lateral Passage, the Shaft of the Dead Man, the Chamber of Engravings, the Painted Gallery, and the Chamber of Felines.

Lascaux II, a replica of two of the cave halls - the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery - was opened in 1983. Reproductions of other Lascaux artwork can be seen at the Centre of Prehistoric Art at Le Thot, France.

The cave contains nearly 2,000 figures. Many are too faint to discern, while others have deteriorated. Over 900 can be identified as animals, and 605 of these have been precisely identified. There are also many geometric figures. Of the animals, horses predominate, with 364 images. There are 90 paintings of stags. Also represented are cattle and bison, each representing 4-5% of the images. A smattering of other images include seven felines, a bird, a bear, a rhinoceros, and a human. Among the most famous images are four huge, black bulls in the Hall of the Bulls. There are no images of reindeer, even though that was the principal source of food for the artists.

The four black bulls are the dominant figures among the 36 animals represented in the Hall of the Bulls. One of the bulls is 17 feet long — the largest animal discovered so far in cave art. The bulls appear to be in motion.

A painting referred to as “The Crossed Bison” and found in the chamber called the Nave is often held as an example of the skill of the paleolithic cave painters. The crossed hind legs show the ability to use perspective in a manner that wasn’t seen again until the 15th century.

Of the non-figurative images, one researcher has speculated that the painted dots are maps of the night sky, since the patterns correlate with various constellations

Written by admin · Filed Under Tourist Attractions