Built in an overhang shelter on the face of a striking cliff, the National Prehistoric Museum of Eyzies-de-Tayac is located in Dordogne, in southwestern France. The museum features unique archaeological collections chiefly discovered at the most prestigious excavation sites in the Vézère Valley, added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List owing to its many Palaeolithic remains. 300,000 visitors annually are expected at the new museum, located in the heart of the Périgord Noir area, land of French philosopher Montaigne – a region acclaimed for its history, beautiful landscapes of dark and mysterious forests, and world-renowned gastronomy.

Established since July 2004 in the new building designed by architect Jean-Pierre Buffi, the museum houses some 18,000 pieces and a collection of six million objects.“Although the new museum bears witness to the presence of men and women of the 21st century, its modernity manifests itself through its environment, marked by the sheer height of the cliff it is built on and the small size of the historical village of Eyzies-de-Tayac, with its 900 inhabitants and its medieval ruins”, remarks Jean-Pierre Buffi, architect of the Toulouse multimedia library and of the Façade of the Bercy Park in Paris.

The museum’s collections were established as early as 1913, when indefatigable researcher Denis Peyrony convinced the French state to acquire the Château des Eyzies, built at the end of the 16th century, and to transform it into an excavation warehouse that could double up as a museum. These collections have since been tremendously enriched through excavation discoveries at regional sites as well as private donations.

“The museum made a political choice by deciding not to portray the entire history of the Hominids’ development”, explains Jean-Jacques Cleyet-Merle, the museum’s director since 1988. “Instead, the museum describes the Palaeolithic era: the history of the Neanderthals, who vanished 50,000 years ago, and of the Cro-Magnon man, who lived in socially structured groups, buried his dead and made objects that had a symbolic meaning”.

Visitors enter the new museum as though embarking on a trip to the origins of humanity. At the museum’s entrance, the main chapters of the Hominids’ development are evoked through an anthropological frieze and a brief reminder of Africa’s history, starting with the early Australopithecines. Many themes are explored, including the legendary “Lucy”, the small 3.5-million-year-old woman discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. Next, the staircase leading to the permanent exhibit galleries plunges visitors into the mists of time, revealing seven sequences that cover the entire Palaeolithic era through an “idealstratigraphy”.

Upon leaving the“abysses of time”, visitors – equipped with the keys necessary for interpreting the rest of the exhibit – slide into the lower gallery and discover, along a passageway, the various material cultures that succeeded one another from 400,000 to 10,000 BC. This same itinerary also retraces the development of these different cultures: early tools, furniture, and other artefacts. Many themes are presented, such as the lifestyle of Neanderthal populations and the appearance of modern man.

In the upper gallery, visitors are invited to follow an initiatory path from the outside world of mankind’s ancestors to the semi-darkness of the painted caves. Museum-goers can also admire the replicas of prehistoric hearths, of the homes built under shelters and of the places of origin of the objects on display in the rest of the gallery. The reconstructed grave of “L’enfant de la Madeleine” is of particular interest in this section.

Each object – statuettes, jewels, harpoons, lamps, scrapers of all sorts, to name but some of the pieces – has been selected with great care, based on its representativeness and its state of conservation.

Organised by Jean-Jacques Cleyet-Merle, in close partnership with the Scientific Council chaired by Jean-Philippe Rigaud, honorary director of the Institute for Prehistory and Quaternary Geology of Bordeaux, the new National Prehistoric Museum’s scientific programme has been influenced by the establishment’s location at the heart of the prestigious sites and deposits from which its acquired its exceptional collections. In addition to the famous Lascaux Cave and its colourful cave paintings, many listed sites hark back to 400,000 years of human history, from the Font-de-Gaume cave to the Combarelles and Rouffignac caves, as well as the Poisson, Moustier and Micoque shelters.

Artists at the time had a very basic colour palette, consisting of black, ochre and red, which they skilfully used to make colour gradations, creating astoundingly lifelike animal scenes. In the new museum, “the ochre tones, such as the grey of the cast-aluminium roofs, mirror the cliff’s timeless colours”, points out Jean-Pierre Buffi.

In addition to presenting its collections to the general public, conserving humankind’s heritage and supporting archaeological digs, the National Prehistoric Museum also hosts archaeologists, researchers and students from the world over, and collaborates with various foreign institutions.

The abundance of masterpieces, shelters and grottos that dot the entire Vézère Valley, framed by dark and mysterious forests, vineyards and rivers, should not cause visitors to forget that Périgord is also the land of foie gras, duck confit, walnuts, cep mushrooms and the distinct-smelling truffles. Just 20 km away from Eyzies-de-Tayac, Sarlat – a town full of art and history, whose old streets shelter the former home of humanist writer La Boétie – is well worth a visit. One of the favourite visiting places of film directors, this prestigious site regularly hosts special events such as film festivals, theatre games, village celebrations, and much more.

Nestled in the heart of Périgord Noir, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac is sure to captivate you. The entire region, including its soil, beats with the soul of humanity.

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 from the National Prehistoric Museum.

Contrary to appearances, the name of the Dordogne is not a recent word resulting from the names of the Dore and the Dogne. It comes from an ancient Durānius, dérived from a preceltic root dur-, dor- (as the Durance).

The medieval forms adopted a redoubled suffix -ononia : Dorononia fluvius (sixth century), Dornonia (eighth century) that evolves in Dordonia (ninth century) by a phenomenon of dissimilation, giving the impression of an etymology *Dore-Dogne.

Geography

The river rises on the flanks of Puy de Sancy (1 885 m) in the mountains of Auvergne, from the confluence of two small torrents above the town of Mont-Dore: the Dore and the Dogne. It flows generally west about 500 km through the Limousin and Périgord regions before flowing into the Gironde, its common estuary with the Garonne, at the “Ambès beak”, in the north of the city of Bordeaux.

Nature

The Dordogne is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibits the phenomenon known as a tidal bore. The Valley of the Dordogne is quite beautiful and contributes significantly to the attractiveness of the region. The main season for tourism in the Valley of the Dordogne is from June to September with July and August being high tide.

Course

The départements of France through which the Dordogne River runs, together with some towns in those départements that are on or quite near the River, are as follows:

• The département of Puy-de-Dôme – the towns of Mont-Dore (near the source of the River), La Bourboule
• The département of Corrèze – the towns of Argentat and Bort-les-Orgues
• The département of Lot – The town of Souillac
• The département of Dordogne – The towns of Beynac-et-Cazenac, Sarlat, Saint-Cyprien, and Bergerac
• The département of Gironde – the towns of Sainte-Foy-la-Grande and Libourne

Tributaries

Dordogne River in the PérigordMain tributaries from source to mouth:

(R) Rhue
(R) Diège
(R) Luzège
(L) Sumène
(L) Auze
(R) Doustre
(L) Maronne
(L) Cère
(R) Sourdoire
(L) Ouysse
(R) Vézère along which many of the great prehistoric caves of Southwest France are located
(R) Isle
(L) Laurence
N.B. : (R) = right tributary; (L) = left tributary

Canoeing on the Dordogne River

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/