Abri du Poisson

Trip No.203  Entry No.83  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 19th May 2005. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Located in an open garden type area where there is a gap in the cliff face at the bottom of the Gorge D’Enfer on the south west side of the road out of Les Eyzies towards Périgueux about 1 kilometre after the bridge over the river and before Laugerie Basse. These days the abri is walled up and locked shut to enable people to pay to see inside and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Apart from the traffic going past this is a nice quiet little place with a stream coming out from the cliff nearby and trickling down towards the river.

A typical little Abri at the bottom of the cliffs it was discovered in about 1912 that there is a life sized carving of a salmon on the ceiling. It has been dated to about 25000 years ago and is the oldest known representation of a fish in the world and one of only 10 known in cave art anywhere. It is thought that the ceiling was once completely painted over due to pigment found in cracks in the rocks and there is also a handprint part of a horse and some strange symbols to be seen.

Pierre des Justices

Trip No.203  Entry No.81  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Polissoir Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Couldn't find on 19th May 2005

Log Text: Just off the main road from Perigueux to Les-Eyzies at the junction of the D32 west to Mauzens-et-Miremont is a little picnic and parking area. If you then follow this road west under the splendid railway viaduct after a few hundred metres pass the lavoir then take the little lane up to the left. Somewhere several hundred metres up the steep slope into these woods can be found the Pierre des Justices polissoir stone.

I was told by locals that unless you know exactly where to look then you will not find it. I had a quick look round and decided that there are better things to do than conduct a full search of a large steep overgrown wood.

Dolmen de la Faille

Trip No.203  Entry No.80  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 19th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: An out of the way dolmen a kilometre or so to the west of the village of Rouffignac along the D6 then just south along a lane by the rubbish dump. It’s on a slope in a fenced off field not far from the lane and can be seen from there. There is a brown capstone sitting on a few support stones becoming enclosed by trees.

Grotte de Rouffignac

Trip No.203  Entry No.79  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 19th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a strange cave its all very bare and rectangular and seems more like a stone mine than a natural cave although it is completely natural and of which there are 10 kilometres of passage. The guided visit takes place in little electric trains which take you a kilometre underground. There are no stalagmites or stalactites to be seen anywhere but lots and lots of graffiti through the ages as this has always been an easy to access cave.

Of the prehistoric graffiti dated to about 13000 years ago we first see a couple of mammoths engraved into the soft side walls on the left and then some more on the right. The train then moves on to where there are some painted rhinoceros before getting to the frieze of many mammoths walking one behind the other just as elephants do perhaps even holding tails in trunks. The bottom part of the picture has become a bit obscured with calcitic build up but the heads and bodies are fantastic.

Then its back out of that passage and down deeper into the cave where there is a large chamber with a massive flat ceiling absolutely covered in the most magnificent animal paintings. There are horses goats deer reindeer cows bison rhinoceros and of course mammoths. Its not the prettiest cave I have seen recently and I think the train ride spoils the atmosphere a bit so I cant give it full marks for ambience but if you like seeing these ancient paintings then it is a must.

Musée National de Préhistoire

Trip No.203  Entry No.78  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 19th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Access 4

Log Text: Recently completely rebuilt this is one of the must sees of the area. There are loads and loads of tools and lots of videos of people making and using them. On the second floor there are some nice finds and again more tools. I thought that there were too many tools on display and not enough other things it seemed to be an ancient tool museum rather than a complete prehistory museum but then again I guess that they are all we have to see. But there's nothing much from the bronze age onwards nothing at all concerning megalithic structures which was a bit of a shame. There was however one representation of a very early burial found nearby where the body of a girl was found in what it called a “proto-dolmen” where the body was placed in a stone lined cist and covered by two large stones.

I have to admit I was expecting better such as more artwork statuettes explanation of how the paintings were done etc but it was an enjoyable couple of hours before it shut for lunch. I did however buy myself a little replica of the Dame de Brassempouy a 25000 year old babe to keep me company on my travels round these ancient sites.

Abri de Laugerie-Haute

Trip No.203  Entry No.77  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 18th May 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: Just to the northwest of Les Eyzies on the west bank of the river Vézère is found the ancient cliff settlement of Laugerie Haute. This was one of the biggest rock shelters anywhere and was inhabited since 50000 years ago. But much of the cliff roof fell down about 10000 years ago and wrecked the place. This had the effect of burying all the archaeology hence preserving it to the present day and preventing it being rebuilt and reused in the millennia past or being plundered in the last few centuries.

Abri de Ruth

Trip No.203  Entry No.76  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 18th May 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: Just to the south of the village of Le Moustoir on the west bank of the Vézère is found this collection of caves and a museum of artefacts. .Supposedly a very important place from where the stratigraphy of the various eras was determined. But getting on in the evening very tired after a long hilly bike ride when its shut it looks just like a cave in a cliff face in a garden to me !

Abri du Moustier

Trip No.203  Entry No.75  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 18th May 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: In the cliff face right opposite the main square in the delightful village of Le Moustoir on the west bank of the Vézère is found this World Heritage Site. Things found here gave its name to an entire epoch the Mousterien. But late on in the day on a long bike ride and wanting to get back (and knowing there's at least one more big hill in the way) it looked like more fenced and walled off bits of cliff face.

La Roque-Saint-Christophe

Trip No.203  Entry No.74  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 18th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: In the gigantic cliff face on the opposite side of the river Vézère to the delightful village of Le Moustoir is found this World Heritage Site. It's an entire troglodytic city which was inhabited continuously from 50000 years ago until a few centuries ago. It's massive. Even knowing it is five levels high and having visited it 27 years ago doesn’t stop it being mind blowing. It's really awe inspiring.

I guess most of what is seen today dates back to the middle ages with all the rock hewn staircases and houses but even so the basic layout of the cliff face city hasn’t changed in millennia. It even has its own little harbour in the river.

Abri du Cap-Blanc

Trip No.203  Entry No.73  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 18th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: In this now walled up cliff shelter, there is a massive frieze of sculpted animals. It was discovered in about 1909, and still bears the scars of the picks used in the excavations, and some of the animals were destroyed. There are horses, bison and the main event, a 2 metre long horse and bison combined, the bison looking to the left, while the horse looks to the right.

This is a fantastic place to visit, but to be honest there is not so much to see as I thought there would be. And it was all spoiled by a coachload of geriatric Americans who would not shut up and listen, and went on and on and on..... I pretended to be French so that they would not try and talk to me, and so I could express my disgust at them !

Grotte des Combarelles 1

Trip No.203  Entry No.72  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 18th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Its good being here in mid May while its not very busy as I can get to visit places like this. Visits are strictly limited to a couple of groups of up to six people at a time per day and often have to be booked several weeks in advance. But I enquired in the morning and got to be on the afternoon tour. Brilliant.

A couple of kilometres north of Les Eyzies beyond Fonte de Gaume in the base of a cliff face is found this cave entrance which in fact is two caves but with one common enlarged entrance dug out in the last century. The engravings within the cave were discovered by L Capitan D. Peyrony and Abbé Breuil on the 8th September 1901 and at that time there was not much credibility for any of the cave art which had been found as being ancient. But the findings within this cave proved that they were indeed many thousands of years old for sure and the rest is history. What went to prove the ancientness of the artwork in this cave is that the animals are engraved in the calcite coating of the cave walls which of course in places has been calcited over thus proving that they were not recent additions.

The tour of the cave lasts about an hour an on my visit there were just 4 of us including the guide (in French of course). I don’t know when but some time in the fairly recent past the cave has been enlarged by digging downwards below the passage making the visit possible in a stooped walk rather than the hands and knees crawl of the past. After a few hundred metres of twisting turning cave passage we get to the first engraving of a horse. It takes a while to see what is being shown but after a while the outline of a horse engraved into the calcite becomes clear. Then you see another one and another. There are engravings everywhere and just centimetres away. More than 600 engravings have now been identified and dated to between 10000 and 12000 years old. There’s a full zoo down there not only the many horses (which have very stylised zigzag markings on many of them) but bison mammoth cows

Font-de-Gaume

Trip No.203  Entry No.71  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 18th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Walk quickly the 2km from Les Eyzies to the entrance building for the cave, and am just in time to be a part of the 10:00 trip. Hooray. It is fantastic.

The colours don't seem so vivid as I recall, (probably from seeing pictures), but I am actually in the cave with these paintings, and could almost touch them if I wanted) strictly forbidden!) they are that close and available. They are said to date from 14000 years ago, dated by means of calcite build up dating methods as there is no charcoal in any of the paintings. There are bison, horses, reindeer, normal deer, a mammoth... Superb. In red and black but they look totally different with the lights on and off.

Entering the cave from the old entrance, the animals would have passed you by as you proceeded into the cavern, it is intended as a moving picture. These people could paint with perspective, something which became lost until the renaissance period only 500 years ago. Some of the animals are painted on flat surfaces. Some are made to fit the cave features. Some have been carved. The two deer, one licking the other, are amazing. I want to rate this place as 10 out of 5.

Gisement du Pataud

Trip No.203  Entry No.68  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 17th May 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: There’s a museum built into the cliff face here and a covered area which looks like some sort of exhibition of an archaeological dig. Its between Cro Magnon and the Les Eyzies museum halfway up the cliff face.

Grotte de Grand Roc

Trip No.203  Entry No.67  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 17th May 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: Don’t know whether theres any prehistoric stuff in here but its supposed to have lots of natural wonders. In the same cliff face as Laugerie Basse.

Abri de Laugerie-Basse

Trip No.203  Entry No.66  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: Just to the northwest of Les Eyzies on the west bank of the river Vézère is found the ancient cliff settlement of Laugerie Basse. Gisements and shelters in the cliff face which have been inhabited since Cro Magnon man right up to this day.

Pierre Plantée (Lisle)

Trip No.203  Entry No.62  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: As I was driving south along the D78 road coming into Lisle I saw a sign saying Pierre Plantée and there was a stone about a metre high stood just by the roadside. I cant be sure whether this is the actual Pierre Plantée referred to or indeed whether it is ancient but it isn’t new !

Pierre de Nautours

Trip No.203  Entry No.65  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: I wasn’t expecting this. I was just getting caught up in rush hour traffic on the outskirts of Périgueux when I saw this large brownish black megalith standing beside a busy roundabout. There was a bus stop conveniently right by it at which I was able to stop and have a decent look although I didn’t spend long here.

I assume its been moved here from Combe du Puy Gauthier wherever that may be and it was dedicated as a monument to somebody whose name I didn’t remember.

Peyrebrune (Seyssac)

Trip No.203  Entry No.64  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: A kilometre or so down a rough track called Chasse de Pierre Brune from the D109 near Segonzac can be found the remains of this rectangular chambered dolmen. The chamber has dimensions of about 3 m by 2 m and made with well positioned stone blocks. There is a capstone which only covers the western end.

It’s a pity about the chestnut trees growing in it.

Dolmen de Palus

Trip No.203  Entry No.63  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: In a field of Barley just beside the country lane from Douchapt to Ségonzac near the hamlet of Margot can be found the remains of this dolmen. Its not much more than a collection of four large brownish black rocks which I would guess are a capstone and three fallen supports. There’s still enough room underneath for the local wildlife to enjoy its shelter despite being ploughed right up to the stones.

Beauroulet Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.61  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: A 4 metres by 2.5 metre capstone of strange dark reddish brown/black rock sits slightly off the ground on top of some fallen grey limestone support stones. Its in a field just opposite a factory near a roadside restaurant at a junction with the busy D939 Brantôme to Périgueux road. Despite being in such a busy noisy and unsightly place it somehow felt calm as I sat here on the stone eating my lunch.