Day 8 – Les Eyzies the Home of Prehistory

This was a learning morning as Christine Desdemaines-Hugon took us through the beautiful and modern National Museum of Prehistory in Les Eyzies. It was a great introduction to the subject and formed a wonderful background to what we would be visiting this afternoon – the caves at Font de Gaume. These are the only caves left in the world with polychromatic prehistoric cave paintings that are open to the public and it is an honour to be allowed into them.
Our short walk included a detour past the Cro Magnon shelter where homo sapiens was first discovered in the region. Oh – and there was tart for lunch.
And a new picture…

From Jim’s journal:
Finally a relatively easy day on the feet. We pretty much stay near Les Eyzies on this day. After breakfast we visit the Musee National de Prehistoire in Les Eyzies with our tour leader Christine. This is the premier museum of pre-history in the world, with many artifacts and remains of prehistoric man—both Homo Sapien and Neanderthal. Among the highlights are stone tools up to 2.7 million years old, remains of Cro Magnon and Neanderthal man, information concerning the life style of prehistoric man and the animals they encountered, and displays of carved artifacts and paintings dating to 35,000 years ago. A beautiful example of the art on display is an exquisitely carved stone bull with head turned backward in an almost cubist style. We leave the museum and drive to one of the few remaining caves containing prehistoric etchings and paintings still open to the public—Font de Gaume. This amazing cave—located high up the cliffs on the outskirts of Les Eyzies—has the finest prehistoric paintings still able to be seen by visitors anywhere in the world. The cave entrance is and has been clearly visible for years and so many of the paintings at the lower level of the cave have been obliterated by visitors and graffiti since the cave’s “discovery” in 1906. Unlike the cave at Lascaux which drops down from the entrance, one entering the cave at Font de Gaume must climb upward to reach the far reaches of the cave. Carbon dioxide produced by visitors to the Font de Gaume caves and which could slowly destroy the paintings in the cave can thus escape through the caves entrance. This accounts for the fact that this cave remains open to the public while the cave at Lascaux has been closed for years and is only open to researchers under very restrictive conditions. The caves, which depict primarily reindeer, bison and horses, show an amazing understanding of depth and perception, almost in he cubism forms later adopted by Picasso who visited the caves. Per Christine interpretation, the paintings do not depict the hunt or merely demonstrate what animals prehistoric man confronted (many animals known to exist in prehistory are not depicted), but rather are spiritual in nature. After our visit to the museum, we take a brief walk to the outskirts of Les Eyzies where we see the site (a rock shelter in Tayac) where Cro Magnon man was first discovered in 1868 by geologist Louis Lartet. Interestingly, Cro Magnon is not a scientific name, but the name of the location where the discovery was made. We then return to Les Eyzies to picnic along the banks of the Vezere River in a lovely park in the village. No fruit bread today but rather profiteroles which we devour at our leisure rather than on the run as in Paris. After lunch, those interested drive to the top of the cliffs overlooking Les Eyzies and hike back down to Tayac. Then on to our hotel, the usual cocktails and dinner at our hotel. Total hike this day, only 5 miles (for those doing the afternoon hike).