Sunday 22 June
Artificial Caves, Prehistoric Cave Drawings, Clan of the Cave Bear (!)
We left our apartments at Le Clos du Rocher in rather cloudy weather, it had been raining overnight.
We made good use of the hour we had to wait by driving 5 minutes back into town to look at the limestone rock caves and houses that people have built into the rock.
The National Museum of Prehistory is one of the most important museums about the prehistoric ages and is housed in a fortress, the Château de Tayac, situated on a cliff above the village.
The earliest cluzeaux, (artificial caves) either above or below ground, can be found throughout the Dordogne. These subterranean refuges and lookout huts were large enough to shelter entire local townships and were specially dug and cut into the rock by the men of the Middle Ages, to take refuge temporarily and escape the actions of looters and enemies. According to Julius Caesar the Gauls took refuge in these caves during the resistance.
The road up leading to the museum has houses dug into the cliff side and as you can see from the photo, the owners take great pride in keeping them neat and tidy. We stopped briefly and Rachel complemented the owner on his lovely garden, he replied in rapid French which had her a bit flummoxed until Jasper came to her aid and translated for her!
Then we were off to see the cave paintings at Font-de-Guame. This cave features over 200 painted or engraved polychrome representations (polychrome is the practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colours). This is one of the most spectacular Paleolithic sanctuaries in the world still open to the public.
Wikipedia: "Prehistoric people living in the Dordogne Valley first settled in the mouth of Font-de-Gaume around 25,000 BC. The cave mouth was inhabited at least sporadically for the next several thousand years. However, after the original prehistoric inhabitants left, the cave was forgotten until the nineteenth century when local people again began to visit the cave. The paintings were discovered by Denis Peyrony, a local schoolmaster, on 12 September 1901. The cave had been known to the general public before this, but the significance of the paintings had not been recognised. In fact we were shown some graffiti, names and dates that had been carved into some of the rock faces before their value was recognised! The paintings date from around 17,000 BC, during the Magdalenian period. The cave's most famous painting, a frieze of five bison, was discovered accidentally in 1966 while scientists were cleaning the cave.
"Five bison, with finely engraved contours and with their bodies painted in black-brown and red, against a background of yellow limestone concretions above a ledge, for at least four of them, form a composition full of life. It includes males and females, and the males are shown with penises."
There were strict rules about no touching the walls and ceilings, and many warnings to duck as we passed through several narrow pathways. We were only in there for the allotted half an hour but it was very special and our guide was very knowledgeable.
I tried to imagine what it would be like to draw and carve in the dark and dank atmosphere of the cave, there was not a lot of carving as the skilled artists used the contours of the rock to form the muscle mass. Most of the drawings were of buffalo, even though reindeer were plentiful and their main source of food.
We came out in brilliant sunshine once more, and having seen the real thing we turned our attention to a prehistoric theme park in Tursac. We thought this could either be a crappy Hollywood amusement park, or it could be really good.
Both James and I have read the historical novels (Clan of the Cave Bear, etc) by Jean M. Auel about prehistoric times and were keen to see if this met our expectations. It was built in a wooded valley and had a pathway through various scenes and activities. So for a start it was sheltered from the heat and was fresh and well cared for. The children just loved it, something more tangible and believable than a history book, no matter how good.
Wikipedia: "Surviving Cro-Magnon artifacts and features include huts,
cave paintings, carvings and antler-tipped spears.
The remains of tools suggest that they knew how to make woven clothing. They had huts, constructed of rocks, clay, bones, branches, and animal hide/fur.
These early humans used manganese and iron oxides to paint pictures and may have created the first calendar around 15,000 years ago."
It was well worth going to see, they had done a good job of trying to make what life would have been like, realistic, there were even roars from the huge mammoths, and a realistic capture of a mammoth in a trap dug into the ground.
And so back to Les Eyzies for a late lunch. It was getting towards 3pm when we finished lunch, but we had to squeeze in one more place of interest, not to be missed, Sarlat.
Wikipedia: "Because modern history has largely passed it by, Sarlat has remained preserved and one of the towns most representative of 14th century France. It owes its current status on France's Tentative List for future nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage site to the enthusiasm of writer, resistance fighter and politician André Malraux, who, as Minister of Culture (1960–1969), restored the town and many other sites of historic significance throughout France. The centre of the old town consists of impeccably restored stone buildings and is largely car-free."
It was amazing to see, can't help using superlatives - it just is awesomely ancient, amazingly fresh and well maintained, building upon building, can't stop taking photos around every corner, a must have shot.
All the interesting shops - mainly for the tourist I guess, but beautifully sewn goods, table cloths, aprons, pretty lacy blouses, etc, all manner of handcrafts, including speciality knives and of course the inevitable toy shops full of swords and shields and cavalier outfits.
But this town is known for its Foie Gras and special gourmet foods.
"Foie gras: There are several large foie gras factories as well as a number of small producers of geese and ducks in the region that make foie gras and other cherished products (confits, pâté, etc.) from these birds."
I saw a little shop tucked away just out of the square selling such beautiful mosaics, so bright and colourful, golds and bright reds, they started at around €800 so I gave them a miss, but if I had won lotto.....
We needed a bit of a sit down, a drink and more ice creams, all the little streets led into the square where tables with umbrellas were set out with townsfolk and tourists drinking whatever beverage takes their fancy. We joined them, and refreshed went back to the car and arrived home just before 8.00pm after a truly glorious weekend.
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