Along the Vézère River valley is Abri Blanchard (excavated in the early 1900's). Between Montignac and Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, where the waterway snakes, there are more than a dozen caves of interest -a reason why the valley was conferred UNESCO World Heritage status almost 40 years ago. The Vézère River valley is particularly rich with this heritage of ancient dwellings and cave art. This modern site is set on 16-acres and includes mesmerizing replicas of paintings and engravings.īeside Lascaux, there are multiple other pre-historic sites. A map in the Museum of Périgord Art and Archaeology in the city of Périgueux identifies clusters of prehistoric dwellings located within an approximate triangle bounded by the Dordogne cities of Nontron to the north, Sarlat to the east and Bergerac to the west (with Périgueux in the center). The real cave was closed in 1963 to protect these images from further deterioration, which had been exacerbated by excessive visits and poor management (including a somewhat crude installation of air conditioning). The mother lode of prehistoric art is the relatively recently opened $62 million Lascaux International Center for Cave Art, including a duplication of cave walls covered with paintings from perhaps 20,000 years ago.
The Cro-Magnon legacy of carvings and paintings exists in dozens of rock shelters and caves. The estimated date of their arrival is frequently revised based on fresh discoveries and analyses. The earliest modern humans arrived in Europe about 40,000 years ago and these Cro-Magnon later settled in the Dordogne river valleys -the first traces of homo sapiens to arrive in this part of what is now France. This happy confluence of fresh water, natural shelter, decent temperature, fresh fish and woodlands for hunting wild food provided an ideal settling ground for pre-historic (pre-literate) humans. Many of these valleys are riddled with limestone cliffs and caves. The Dordogne (which is the name of a geographical region as well as a river) is sliced east to west, as well as northeast to southwest, by parallel river valleys-the Dronne, Auvézère, Vézère, Dordogne and Dropt.
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