The first remains now known to be Neanderthal were discovered in Belgium in 1829, and further remains were discovered in Gibraltar in 1848. However, it was the 1856 discovery of a partial skull and an assortment of arm, leg and rib bones in the Neander Valley that led to the recognition of Neanderthals as a separate species by Hermann Schaffhausen. ‘Tal’ is the word for ‘valley’ in modern German, having replaced the ‘Thal’ of the slightly dated 19th Century dialect, hence the confusion between Neandertal and Neanderthal. In the light of Darwin’s Origin of Species, published three years later in 1859, Neanderthals became the first bones to be recognised as a ‘missing link’ between humans and apes, of the type that Darwin predicted.

Appearance

Neanderthal and human remains can be difficult to distinguish, especially when dealing with very partial remains. Differences include an occipital bun (lump on the back of the head), lack of a chin, more prominent brow-ridge, broader nose, slightly bowed leg-bones and a generally more robust physique. Most of these features can be found in human skeletons to some degree; for instance, although humans have smaller skulls on average, it is not true to say that all humans have smaller skulls than all Neanderthals. We have no direct way of telling whether Hn had a variety of hair, eye or skin colours, or indeed how much hair they had.

Early Theories

Since Darwin’s theory of evolution was unpublished when the first Neanderthal bones were discovered, scientists struggled to work out what they were. They were clearly more similar to human bones than those of any other living creature, and yet they were at the same time clearly not those of ordinary men. One theory, proposed by Rudolph Virchow, was that they were the remains of a man (assumed to be from Napoleon’s army) who had suffered from a unique form of debilitating rickets as a child, gone on to become a horseman causing him further deformities, suffered a series of crippling head injuries and ended up dying naked in a German valley just miles from the nearest village.

When the first complete set of Neanderthal remains was found at La Chapelle-aux-Saints in France, Pierre Marcellin Boule reconstructed the individual in what would become the classic image of Neanderthals, stoop-backed, bent-kneed and with a ‘dumb’ brow and jaw. Later revisions would show that this individual had suffered from severe arthritis of the spine, but probably had little stoop if any.

‘Out of Africa’ v ‘Multi-region Hypothesis’

From the late 19th Century onwards, it was believed that modern humans were the result of a mixture of genetic traits, developed in separate parts of the world in mutually interbreeding populations. During the 1980s and 1990s, this theory was displaced by the single origin or ‘Out of Africa’ model, which envisaged several species of human evolving in Africa and migrating outwards into Asia and Europe, with each wave of migration displacing the previous one. This was based initially on finds of anatomically modern humans living in Africa 200,000 years ago, backed up by analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of Neanderthals and sapiens, showing that they diverged roughly 500,000 years ago.

More recently, a compromise between these two models appears to have been reached. Although the ‘Out of Africa’ scenario is still held to be generally correct, there is now increasing genetic evidence that inter-breeding did occur between sapiens and Neanderthals, and possibly between sapiens and erectus1 as well. However, gene flow appears to have been very limited, so we seem to be looking at distinct but occasionally interbreeding groups, rather than a homogenised group. Individual hybrids must have been completely incorporated into the society of either sub-species.

More detail can be found in the ‘Science Bit’ below.

How Similar Were They To Humans?

Neanderthals were, until around 24,000 years ago when they disappeared, the closest known relatives to modern humans2. We now have partial remains of over 400 Neanderthal individuals, making them the best-studied and most recent of the relatives of modern man. None of these bones have been fossilised, and some are intact enough to have had fragments of DNA extracted. Perhaps because they were first known as ‘missing links’, they have always been portrayed in the mass media as midpoint between humans and apes, with a stooped posture, receding brow and no culture except, perhaps, a few strategically placed pieces of animal hide.

This has, however, long been at odds with scientific interpretation both of Neanderthal remains and of the artefacts associated with them. Although Neanderthals are not now widely considered to be directly ancestral to Homo sapiens (with both species instead being descended from other Homo species), they remain far more closely related to us than most of the other extinct hominins3.

Neanderthals had notably large brains – larger on average than Homo sapiens. The average modern human has a brain capacity of around 1400cc. Neanderthals actually had larger brains, at 1500cc, which may seem surprising except for the facts that brain size does not indicate intelligence (whales, anyone?), and Neanderthal brain volume to body mass ratio is actually lower than in sapiens. They would have walked with a fully upright posture, and were capable of making tools of equal quality to those of Homo sapiens. The oldest known musical instrument is a fragment of a bone flute found at a site associated with Neanderthals, so they may have been the world’s first musicians (not including the whales, of course).

Neanderthals are believed to have contributed genetic material to modern humans by interbreeding with early Homo sapiens. This means that they were of the same species as humans; and since the evidence is that this interbreeding continued until the disappearance of Neanderthals, it seems that Neanderthals were never reproductively isolated from humans.

First Appearance

Neanderthals lived in many varied locations, and over a great length of time. It is not surprising that they varied in appearance, with those from more southerly regions being less adapted to the cold than their more northerly cousins.

Many of the traits that distinguish Neanderthals from sapiens and erectus are related to temperature. Neanderthals lived in Europe during a cold period in the Earth’s history – an ‘ice age’ – and consequently had adaptations including a broader nose (more efficient at heating inhaled air) and a squat, compact frame that minimised surface area to volume ratio and so reduced heat loss. The defining image of Neanderthals in popular culture – their stupidity – is categorically incorrect. Neanderthals had a sophisticated culture, and made some developments before their sapiens cousins.

Some cold-adapted traits first appeared in European hominins as long as 1,000,000 years ago in Iberia. However, this does not necessarily indicate genetic separation of the African and Neanderthal strains, which from genetic data is supposed to have happened closer to 500,000 years ago.

At its greatest extent, the Hn subspecies occupied all of mainland Europe south of Denmark and Scandinavia, the southern UK (the Watford Gap is old indeed), and roughly what is now Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq and even Uzbekistan.

Culture

The culture of Neanderthals is technically known as Mousterian, after Le Moustier in France, where a Neanderthal skull was found. This refers largely to the design of stone scrapers, probably used for either scraping skins or simple woodwork. There is no evidence that Neanderthals ever developed the ability to sew, so it is unlikely that they wore clothing (despite the cold climate). It seems that Neanderthals made use of fire, but probably not for warmth. They do not seem to have constructed any structures, even tents. Mousterian technology includes stabbing spearheads and axes, but no throwing spears or arrowheads.

Animal remains are frequently associated with Neanderthal sites, indicating that they were meat-eaters. Interestingly, these remains are usually of animals in their prime, something usually associated with farming rather than hunting (where elderly or infirm animals would be easier to catch). Injuries found in Neanderthal skeletons are frequently similar to those found in rodeo clowns, which implies that Neanderthals often wrestled with large animals. This most likely indicates a close-quarters hunting method, although it is possible that livestock was also kept. Many of these injuries (for instance those suffered by the aged individual recovered at La Chapelle-aux-Saints in France) would have been debilitating, which indicates a communal structure that tended to the infirm.

Whistles made from the phalange bone of a reindeer leg – what would be a finger or toe bone in humans – are known from 90-100,000 years ago, but it is unclear whether these were used for music; an artefact that may or may not be a flute is known to have come from 20,000 years later, although many maintain it is a bone with bear tooth-holes in it. Neanderthals buried their dead, and one burial at Shanidar in Iraq was accompanied by grave goods in the form of plants. All of the plants are used in recent times for medicinal purposes, and it seems likely that the Neanderthals also used them in this way and buried them with their dead for the same reason. Grave goods are an archaeological marker of belief in an afterlife, so Neanderthals may well have had some form of religious belief.

Some Neanderthal burials appear to show incisions on the bones that would indicate butchery. This may be evidence of cannibalism, either by Neanderthals or sapiens. Whether this was an act of desperation or a religious ritual is not known, but it is generally accepted. However, it must be seen in the light of the other, more careful Neanderthal burials that would indicate a general respect for the dead.

Extinction

Neanderthals were adapted for a colder climate than their African cousins. Temperatures in Europe have fluctuated greatly over the past half-million years, with glaciers covering Scandinavia for long periods. It was long believed that rising temperatures, in combination with competition from sapiens, led to the disappearance of Neanderthals.

More accurate measurements of palaeoclimate have altered this view. The temperature increased from around 24,000 years ago, reaching its highest levels for 130,000 years. Neanderthals had survived at least two such warm spells (interglacial periods) before, and this third warming appears after final decline.

Neanderthals shared Europe with Homo sapiens for several tens of millennia, during which Hn appear to have been in decline. It is unclear whether there was direct competition between the two species; it seems more likely that competition was indirect, with H. sapiens being better at running after prey and using hurling weapons, and H. neanderthalensis no longer having the advantage of its cold-weather adaptations. It is also possible that rapid changes in climate denuded the forests; without sufficient cover to sneak up on their prey, the Neanderthals slowly found their ambush-hunting methods becoming ineffective – contrast this with the sapiens, who were able to use ranged weapons and relied less on the cover of the forests to hunt. However, this idea would clash with the evidence that the Neanderthals farmed animals.

There is some evidence that the range of Neanderthal dwellings tailed the ice northwards, with Homo sapiens colonising Europe from the south. However, this is inconclusive; Neanderthals survived at the extremities of Europe, with the last known population being in Gibraltar (ironically, at the southern limit of their range).

The Science Bit

The ‘Multiregion Hypothesis’ was first proposed in 1964, dominated throughout the 1980s, then fell out of favour during the 1990s. Mitochondrial DNA analyses of modern humans show that the most recent female ancestor common to all living humans lived less than 170,000 years ago – long after we diverged from Neanderthals 500,000 years ago. Later Y-chromosome analyses showed that our most recent male ancestor is around 100,000 years old. Although this was good evidence, it could also be explained by all part-Neanderthal lineages passing through an all-male generation, so that no Neanderthal mtDNA was passed on. Recovery in 1987 of mitochondrial DNA from a Neanderthal bone offered further confirmation of this theory.

The discovery in 1999 of a 24,000-year-old adolescent skeleton in Lapedo, Portugal (the Lapedo Child) with an apparent mixture of Neanderthal and sapiens characteristics has led to speculation that rather than going extinct, Neanderthals may have interbred with modern-type humans. More recently, a second alleged hybrid has been unearthed in Romania, and this idea has been backed up by more detailed genetic analyses. Haplotypes are sections of DNA that do not appear to be reshuffled during sexual reproduction. Although the majority of human haplotypes are consistent with ‘shallow ancestry’ – the idea that Homo sapiens evolved in Asia around 160,000 years ago – a small number seem to show deeper ancestry. A haplotype known as PDHA1 seems to have diverged around 1,800,000 years ago. It is difficult to explain how both varieties survived if humans were reduced to a small population (a bottleneck) much later than that; this gives support to the idea that it was introduced into the population by interbreeding with another population, such as Neanderthals. This re-introduction of genetic material is known as introgression.

Another example is the haplotype microcephalin, which diverged around 1,000,000 years ago but seems to have introgressed around 40,000 years ago. This ties in very neatly with the fossil dates for the appearance of Neanderthals and their simultaneous occupation of Europe with Homo sapiens. Both these examples are of genes that appear to offer an advantage, and have spread throughout the population by natural selection. This makes it impossible to tell whether they were introduced multiple times or just once, so they cannot be used to judge the frequency of Neanderthal/sapiens hybrids. The next step in research is to analyse ‘junk’ haplotypes, which cannot be selected for or against and are thus unaffected by natural selection. If these are found to be common, it would indicate frequent hybridisation events.

Finally, the RRM2P4 haplotype appears to have diverged 2,000,000 years ago. This pre-dates the separation of sapiens and Neanderthals, so it offers a hint that our ancestors may have bred with another sub-species, Homo erectus.

Any two groups that interbreed in the wild are defined as the same species, so Neanderthals are now recognised as a sub-species of humans, and are officially known as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, as opposed to Homo sapiens sapiens, which covers everything from Cro-Magnon man to ourselves.

Controversies

As if the debates described above were not enough, there are a number of theories somewhere on the spectrum from the radical to the ridiculous. Below are some examples of ideas that are not generally accepted by palaeontologists but that do occasionally circulate.

Some studies indicate that Neanderthals may have had considerably longer lifespans than humans. This is not widely accepted, as it is based upon the assumption that rates of maturation in Neanderthals are very similar to those in Homo sapiens. Specifically, ages are calculated according to tooth wear and this is then correlated to maturity of the specimen in terms of height, development, etc. The conclusion is that Neanderthals took longer than sapiens to reach maturity, and thus that their lifespan must have been correspondingly longer. Almost every stage of this line of argument is contentious, and it is highly notable that no Neanderthal remains of individuals with an apparent age greater than around 40 years have been found.

Creationists, naturally, contend that Neanderthals are fully modern humans, often arguing along the lines of Virchow’s discredited theory that the differences between Neanderthals and sapiens are caused by injuries and pathologies. The sheer quantity of Neanderthal remains now known make it difficult to conceive of all individuals suffering the same injuries, and means that palaeontologists universally reject this idea.

Finally, it has been proposed that the related group of neurological disorders that include autism, Asperger’s syndrome, dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) may be due to the presence of Neanderthal genetic material, rather than mis-functioning genes. Supporters of this theory draw parallels between the symptoms of autism and deduced behaviours of Neanderthals: dispraxia (lack of hand-eye coordination) compared to absence of Neanderthal throwing weapons; seasonal affected disorder (SAD) may indicate Neanderthals hibernated; autistic children typically have a slightly larger brain; and difficulty in learning a language. They also note that autism is more common among people of European descent, who would be expected to have more Neanderthal genes than those of purely African or Asian descent. Opponents point to the circumstantial nature of this evidence, maintain that there are many symptoms of autism that are not explained in this way, and object to the assumptions made (there is no direct evidence to support the idea that Neanderthals hibernated outside of the Neanderthal theory of autism, and Neanderthals may well have had a language).

——————————————————————————–
1 Homo erectus was another relative of both Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens.
2 With the possible exception of the disputed taxon Homo floriensis, known to the popular media as ‘hobbits’.
3 ‘Hominin’ is the term used for all humans, living and extinct. ‘Hominid’, formerly used for humans, has now been widened to include apes. It is now possible that Neanderthals may have been driven extinct by terminal confusion about their own identity.

The Lower Paleolithic Period

The oldest recognizable tools made by members of the family of man are simple stone choppers, such as those discovered at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. These tools may have been made over 1 million years ago by Australopithecus, ancestor of modern humans. Fractured stones called eoliths have been considered the earliest tools, but it is impossible to distinguish man-made from naturally produced modifications in such stones. Lower Paleolithic stone industries of the early species of humans called Homo erectus include the Choukoutienian of China and the Clactonian, Chellean-Abbevillian, Acheulian and Levalloisian represented at various sites in Europe, Africa, and Asia, from 100,000 to 500,000 years ago. Stone tools of this period are of the core type, made by chipping the stone to form a cutting edge, or of the flake type, fashioned from fragments struck off a stone. Hand axes were the typical tool of these early hunters and food-gatherers.

The Middle Paleolithic Period

The Middle Paleolithic period includes the Mousterian culture, often associated with Neanderthal man, an early form of humans, living between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago. Neanderthal remains are often found in caves with evidence of the use of fire. Neanderthals were hunters of prehistoric mammals, and their cultural remains, though unearthed chiefly in Europe, have been found also in N Africa, Palestine, and Siberia. Stone tools of this period are of the flake tradition, and bone implements, such as needles, indicate that crudely sewn furs and skins were used as body coverings. Since the dead were painted before burial, a kind of primitive religion may have been practiced.

The Upper Paleolithic Period

In the Upper Paleolithic period Neanderthal man disappears and is replaced by a variety of Homo sapiens such as Cro-Magnon man and Grimaldi man. This, the flowering of the Paleolithic period, saw an astonishing number of human cultures, such as the Aurignacian, Gravettian, Perigordian, Solutrean, and Magdalenian, rise and develop in the Old World. The beginnings of communal hunting and extensive fishing are found here, as is the first conclusive evidence of belief systems centering on magic and the supernatural. Pit houses, the first man-made shelters, were built, sewn clothing was worn, and sculpture and painting originated. Tools were of great variety, including flint and obsidian blades and projectile points. It is probable that the people of the Aurignacian culture migrated to Europe after developing their distinctive culture elsewhere, perhaps in Asia. Their stone tools are finely worked, and they made a typical figure eight-shaped blade. They also used bone, horn, and ivory and made necklaces and other personal ornaments. They carved the so-called Venus figures, ritual statuettes of bone, and made outline drawings on cave walls.

The hunters of the Solutrean phase of the Upper Paleolithic entered Europe from the east and ousted many of their Aurignacian predecessors. The Solutrean wrought extremely fine spearheads, shaped like a laurel leaf. The wild horse was their chief quarry. The Solutrean as well as remnants of the Aurignacian were replaced by the Magdalenian, the final, and perhaps most impressive, phase of the Paleolithic period. Here artifacts reflect a society made up of communities of fishermen and reindeer hunters. Surviving Magdalenian tools, which range from tiny microliths to implements of great length and fineness, indicate an advanced technique. Weapons were highly refined and varied, the atlatl first came into use, and along the southern edge of the ice sheet boats and harpoons were developed. However, the crowning achievement of the Magdalenian was its cave paintings, the culmination of Paleolithic art.

Description: Cro magnon skull

Period: Upper Paleolithic Period – 30,000 years ago

Provenance: Original Discovered 1868 in Les Eyzies de Tayac - Dordogne, France

——————————————————————————–

 Cro Magnon 1 was discovered by Louis Lartet in 1868 during railroad construction in Les Eyzies, Dordogne France. Work on a limestone cliff uncovered a rock shelter. Upon further examination, four fossil adult skeletons, one infant, and some fragmentary bones were excavated near the back of the shelter where an occupation floor was exposed. The orientation and condition of shell and animal teeth led scientists to theorize that the skeletons were intentionally buried together in a grave in the shelter with these objects placed on the bodies as pendants or necklaces.

Cro-Magnon 1 was identified as the skeleton of a middle-aged adult male that was less than 50 years old at death based on the degree of closure of his cranial sutures. Most interesting, the face region of the skull is noticeably pitted from a serious fungal infection that was endured during the life of this unfortunate individual. The skull also lacked teeth.

Scientific studies performed on the skeletons found at the Les Eyzies rock shelter indicated that the humans of this time period led a physically tough life. In addition to the fungal infection of Cro-Magnon 1, several of the individuals found at the shelter had fused neck vertebrae indicating traumatic injury, and the adult female found had survived for some time with a skull fracture. The survival of these individuals with such serious physical impairments allows us to conclude the presence of community support amongst individuals, which allowed them to convalesce.

The site was dated to the Upper Pleistocene between 32,000 and 30,000 years old, based on tools and fossil animal bone fragments found in association with the skeletons.

The skull of Cro-Magnon 1 demonstrates the traits that are unique to modern humans, including the high rounded cranial vault with a near vertical forehead. The orbits are no longer topped by a heavy browridge. There is no prominent prognathism of the face, a protrusion of the jaw (mandible) due to misalignment of teeth caused by malformations of the shape of the bones of the face.

Recommended accommodation in Les Eyzies de Tayac:

B&B Ferme de Tayac : www.fermedetayac.com Lovely B&B in a 12th Century former farmhouse / monastery just 2 minutes walk from the Abri de Cro Magnon.

This Middle Ages construction, with its austere appearance, is perched on top of a limestone cliff, dominating the town and the north bank of the Dordogne River.

HISTORY

The castle was built from the 12th century by the barons of Beynac (one of the four baronies of Périgord) to close the valley. The sheer cliff face being sufficient to discourage any assault from that side, the defences were built up on the plateau: double crenellated walls, double moats, one of which was a deepened natural ravine, double barbican.

The oldest part of the castle is a large, square-shaped, Romanesque keep with vertical sides and few openings, held together with attached watch towers and equipped with a narrow spiral staircase terminating on a crenellated terrace. To one side, a residence of the same period is attached; it was remodelled and enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries. On the other side is a partly 14th century residence side-by-side with a courtyard and a square plan staircase serving the 17th century apartments. The apartments have kept their woodwork and a painted ceiling from the 17th century. The Salle des États (States’ Hall) has a Renaissance sculptured fireplace and leads into a small oratory entirely covered with 15th century frescoes, included a Pietà, a Saint Christopher, and a Last Supper in which Saint Martial (first bishop of Limoges) is the maître d’hôtel.

At the time of the Hundred Years’ War, the fortress at Beynac was in French hands. The Dordogne was the border between France and England. Not far away, on the opposite bank of the river, the Château de Castelnau was held by the English. The Dordogne region was the theatre of numerous struggles for influence, rivalries and occasionally battles between the English and French supporters. However, the castles fell more often through ruse and intrigue rather than by direct assault, because the armies needed to take these castles were extremely costly: only the richest nobles and kings could procure them.

The castle was bought in 1962 by Lucien Grosso who has lovingly restored it.

Visitors to the castle can see sumptuous tapestries showing hunting and other scenes from the lives of the lords of the period. The Château de Beynac has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1944.

Beynac castle has served as a location for several films, including Les Visiteurs by Jean-Marie Poiré, in 1993, La Fille de d’Artagnan by Bertrand Tavernier, in 1994, Ever After by Andy Tennant, in 1998, and Jeanne d’Arc by Luc Besson, in 1999. The village of Beynac below the chateau, also served as a location for the film Chocolat by Lasse Hallström, in 2000.

Barons de Beynac

Recommended accommodation to visit Beynac:

 B&B Ferme de Tayac. Lovely B&B in a 12th Century former farmhouse / monastery situated ideally in the hart of the Vezere Valley and just 15 minutes from Château de Beynac
http://www.fermedetayac.com/

Locations

Communes of Les Eyzies de Tayac, Tursac, Montignac-sur-Vézère, Saint-Leon-sur-Vézère, Marquay, Manaurie-Rouffignac and Saint-Cirq-du Bugue, Department of the Dordogne, Region of Aquitaine
N45 3 27 E1 10 12

Theory

The Vézère Valley is on a limestone plateau in Southwestern France. It is home to several hidden calcareous caves. This is Lascaux Cave, the most well known. These drawings here date back to the Paleolithic period around 17,000 years ago. The cave was closed in 1972 for preservation work.

Subsequently decorated grottoes of the Vézère Valley including this Lascaux cave have been inscribed on the list of World Heritage. In this drawing, the front foot of the horse was drawn over the bulky rock surface to give a solid impression. The technique is used to express a galloping horse. This drawing of cattle has many layers. The front red figure is a cow, and behind her is black ox with large horns.

Why did man start to draw? Dr. Michel Lorblanchet has proposed a new theory through practical archaeology that takes account of the painting materials and artistic techniques of the time. He put charcoal in his mouth and sprays it onto the wall, exactly as people during the Paleolithic period used to do. By blowing onto the rocks, they believed that it would breathe life into something inside it. People in those days believed that some kind of supernatural power existed inside the rocks. They tried to capture this great power by projecting images of wild animals onto them. Signs of human imagination have been found here. This unicorn is drawn on the closest wall from the entrance of the Lascaux cave.

People stopped painting in these caves about 10000 years ago. Once they had mastered the skills of stock farming, they started to regard themselves as superior to other animals and with that change the Great Spirit in the caves was gradually forgotten.

Recommended accommodation to explore the Vezere Valley:

B&B Ferme de Tayac. Lovely B&B in a 12th Century former farmhouse / monastery situated ideally in the hart of the Vezere Valley in Les Eyzies de Tayac, the Prehistoric Capital of the world.
http://www.fermedetayac.com/

Perched with hillside on left bank of the Dordogne, Castelnaud dominates the small borough coiled with its feet. Its former owners, vassal of kings of England, opposed a long time to their neighbors, the lords de Beynac, faithful to kings de France. If the protagonists of these remote quarrels have all disappeared, the two fortresses always continue their immutable face to face, like a mineral challenge with the lapse of memory and the ravages of time.

History

English Castelnaud After the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1259 by Saint Louis and Henry III, which put an end to the dispute between the Capetians and the Plantagenets, the Perigord was restored to the English. Castelnaud thus fell under English rule. In 1273 the castle reverted back to the legitimate feudal line, that of the Castelnauds, who gave tribute to the Count of Perigord, vassal of the king of France.The power of a FortressFor Castelnaud, the end of the 13th century heralded in a period of prosperity and relative calm. The castle established itself as one of the principle powers of the Perigord. The barons of Beynac during this epoch were semi-permanently in conflict with the lords of Castelnaud. Continuously the two rival houses contested control of the region, trailing after them a section of the Perigord nobility divided by the two camps. The two castles watched and spied on each other. Never, however, did an open battle occur. In 1317 the Pope himself intervened to prevent the worst from happening; Jean XXII authorized a marriage between the two families to try and put an end to the endemic conflict. This context of private feud, so common in the Middle Ages, was soon relegated to a position of secondary importance: in 1337 the Hundred Years’ War broke out.

 The Hundred Years’ War

The first few decades of the war were favorable to the English. In 1346 at Crecy, the cream of French nobility was decimated by English archers. In 1356, King John the Good was taken prisoner at Poitiers. The Treaty of Bretigny-Calais freed the king but ceded Aquitaine to the English, which was from then on ruled by the formidable Black Prince.In 1368, Magne de Castelnaud, sole heiress of Castelnaud, married Nompar de Caumont. This was a major event for Castelnaud, as the Caumonts would subsequently continue to be proprietors of the castle until the Revolution. During the War, the Caumonts were often in the English camp. Henry IV, King of England, named Nompar de Caumont his seneschal for Agen.

State of SiegeIn 1442, tired of the English hold on Castelnaud, the King of France ordered the town put under siege. The siege lasted three weeks. The English commander ended it by giving the keys to the castle and 400 crowns for his life. Thus the English were finally driven from Castelnaud. They left French soil after the battle of Castillon (1452) which marked the end of the Hundred Year’s War.

Pleasure Residence After a century black with wars, epidemics and hardships, a great period of prosperity unfolded for Castelnaud.
The castle’s reconstruction was begun by Brandelis de Caumont and followed by his son François and his grandson Charles. The old 13th century fortress took on a look that conformed more to the style of the times. François de Caumont, besides enlarging Castelnaud, built a pleasant Renaissance-style manor not far from Castelnaud: Milandes Castle.
Castelnaud, which no longer had a strategic purpose, became a pleasure residence. It was fortified because of its prestigious function as the center of power of the domain.
The imposing artillery tower, built around 1520, had no function other than that of a symbol of power.

The Huguenot Captain

A new chapter in the history of Castelnaud opened with the Huguenot Captain Geoffroy de Vivans. Soldier, companion of the future Henry IV, his life was punctuated by audacious actions which earned him a great reputation in the country. Geoffroy the warrior was feared throughout the Perigord, a reputation which assured that Castelnaud was never disturbed during the Wars of Religion.

Ruins and renaissanceBetween the exploits of Captain Vivans and the 20th century, the castle did not live through any other remarkable events. The Caumont lords preferred Milandes first, then their castle of the Force near Bergerac. The condition of Castelnaud continued to deteriorate until it was completely abandoned. After the Revolution the deterioration accelerated. Soon the castle served as no more than a stone quarry.1969 / 1998 : The Renaissance of CastelnaudIn 1966, Castelnaud Castle was classed as an Historic Monument. Since then, it has undergone two periods of extensive restoration: between 1974-1980 and from 1996-1998. Certain parts of the castle which had collapsed were reconstructed, other parts were only consolidated due to the lack of information regarding their original state. 

Our recommended accommodation to visit Castelnaud:
B&B Ferme de Tayac. Lovely B&B in a 12th Century former farmhouse / monastery situated ideally in the hart of the Vezere Valley and just 15 minutes from Castelnaud
http://www.fermedetayac.com/

The Discovery of the Cro Magnon in Les Eyzies.

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 condition and placement of ornaments, including pieces of shell and animal tooth in what appears to have been pendants or necklaces, led the researchers to think that the skeletons were intentionally buried in a single grave in the shelter.

Cro-Magnon 1 preserved the skeleton of an adult male. The individual was probably middle-aged (less than 50 years old) at his death on the basis of the pattern of closure of cranial sutures. The bones in his face are noticeably pitted (see top photograph) from a fungal infection. The skull was complete except for the teeth, which are reconstructed in the cast photographed here.

While the Cro-Magnon remains are representative of the earliest anatomically modern human beings to appear in western Europe, this population was not the earliest anatomically modern humans to evolve. The skull of Cro-Magnon 1 does, however, show the traits that are unique to modern humans, including the high rounded cranial vault with a near vertical forehead. The orbits are no longer topped by a large browridge. There is no prominent prognathism of the face.

Analysis of the pathology of the skeletons found at the Les Eyzies rock shelter indicates that the humans of this time period led a physically tough life. In addition to the infection noted above, several of the individuals found at the shelter had fused vertebrae in their necks indicating traumatic injury, and the adult female found at the shelter had survived for some time with a skull fracture. The survival of the individuals with such ailments is indicative of community support of individuals, which allowed them to convalesce.

Associated tools and fragments of fossil animal bone date the site to the uppermost Pleistocene, probably between 32,000 and 30,000 years old.