Les Eyzies de Tayac is a lovely little village just a few kilometers up river from our home in Le Bugue. It is at the base of a spectacular rock shelter that was occupied from prehistoric times through the Middle Ages. The village is where Cro-Magnon Man was found, the first important discovery to demonstrate the presence of anatomically modern humans in prehistoric times. There are numerous other prehistoric cave sites of great importance nearby showing that neanderthals and modern humans coexisted in the region for thousands of years.
The Gagnons attempting a very poor impersonation of neanderthals. Everyone knows that these prehistoric people did not carry camera bags or wear fedoras!
The Museum of Prehistory is very impressive and allowed Mario to briefly revert to his archeology lecturing mode. (They offered a tour for 8 Euro, but we got a much better one for free!) The number of displays and the great abundace of artefacts were actually a bit overwhelming.
Photos from the internet
On the edge of the village is the spectacular cave of Font de Gaume. It is the last site in the valley preserving colour cave paintings that is still open to the public. The 30 minute visits are limited to only 96 visitors per day. So Vicki and Mario valiantly got up very early one morning and stood in line, to make sure we could get in (much to the chagrin of people waiting behind them). Their efforts were greatly appreciated though. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and very enthusiastic, which made for very challenging (read impossible) simultaneous translation from Mario.
Once in the cave, we went through narrow passages and were able to examine several of the hundreds of breathtaking paintings and carvings of bison, reindeer, mammoths and horses. It was approximately 14,000 years ago that the artists used the texture and contours of the walls in combination with black and red pigment and carved outlines for great visual effects. Photography was obviously not permitted inside the cave, but the photos below selected from Google Images give a very small impression of this awe-inspiring experience.
Since all these activities made us hungry, we took advantage of the nice local market.
Mario and Vicki contemplating how much foie gras and pâté Mario can possibly eat.
A lot, it seems...
In the meantime, Tristan and Joy are plotting yet again how to convince their parents to let them buy another weapon – rubber band pistols this time.
Ready for duelling!
And time for a nice picnic along the banks of the Vézère River.
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