Village de la Madeleine

Trip No.203  Entry No.86  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 20th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: On a cliff face on the west side of the river Vézère near the village of Tursac is the Troglodytic village which has been inhabited since 50000 years ago and gave its name to an epoch the Madeleinian which was about 12000 years ago.

What you mostly see now for your visit money is medieval with several cliff houses built into the terrace on the cliff. There is also a couple of chapels and a gatehouse which guards over where there was a sort of drop bridge which nowadays has a permanent footpath over it. Above the whole lot is the remains of a 12th century castle. At the centre of the village near a sort of village square is a strange spring which only flows in times of great drought due to some sort of capillary action and the last time in which it flowed was summer 2001. This very strange effect has given the place a sort of magic throughout the millennia.

A bit further along the cliff and down at the base is the original abri shelter within which all the important prehistoric finds were made including the carved bison and the first harpoons.

Source de la Madeleine

Trip No.203  Entry No.87  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 20th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: On a cliff face on the west side of the river Vézère near the village of Tursac is the Troglodytic village which has been inhabited since 50000 years ago and gave its name to an epoch the Madeleinian which was about 12000 years ago. What you mostly see now for your visit money is medieval with several cliff houses built into the terrace on the cliff. There is also a couple of chapels and a gatehouse which guards over where there was a sort of drop bridge which nowadays has a permanent footpath over it. Above the whole lot is the remains of a 12th century castle.

At the centre of the village near a sort of village square is a strange spring which only flows in times of great drought due to some sort of capillary action and the last time in which it flowed was summer 2001. This very strange effect has given the place a sort of magic throughout the millennia.

A bit further along the cliff and down at the base is the original abri shelter within which all the important prehistoric finds were made including the carved bison and the first harpoons.

Le Rigourdou

Trip No.203  Entry No.88  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 20th May 2005

Log Text: Within this cliff shelter just a bit up the hillside from Lascaux found in March 1954 had the discovery made on 22 September 1957 of a complete Neanderthal skeleton in it. Not only this but also several burials of at least 5 bears were found suggesting some strange bear cult or activity. These days its fenced off with a little visitor centre and bears.

Grotte de Lascaux

Trip No.203  Entry No.89  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 20th May 2005

Log Text: This world famous cave has not been opened for visitors since about 1962 after the paintings had started to seriously deteriorate. It was found in September 1940 by two boys out walking their dog which fell down a hole underneath the roots of a freshly uprooted tree. It is now fenced off and not even opened up to specialist groups since 2001. The fence of course has its UNESCO World Heritage site plaque proudly on display.

Grotte de Lascaux 2

Trip No.203  Entry No.90  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 20th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: It’s obviously not the same as seeing the real thing but this copy of the two main chambers of Lascaux cave (which contains 90% of all the paintings) is pretty impressive. OK so it’s a concrete corridor built on the site of an old quarry a couple of hundred metres down hill from the real Lascaux but they tell you that it is nowhere more than 5 millimetres in error from the real thing and at least you can get to see it. It took about 20 years to build and the paintings were recreated using the same methods and materials as the ancient people estimated to have been 17000 years ago.

In the first room with a rounded ceiling there are four massive bulls one being 5.5 metres long and also lots of horses cows and some exquisite reindeer. Three colours are used here red black and yellow and the whole thing is quite magnificent. There is also a frieze on one of the walls with 4 or 5 large horses painted on it with the legs of each all in different positions which when seen one after the other make a perfect representation of a horse galloping across the room. There is also a weird animal at the entrance end of the chamber which seems to consist of the head of a lion the body of a bison and horse and the aft legs of a human and with a couple of long horns and strange markings.

The second chamber is more like a corridor with paintings along both sides. There are lots of little horses following one another with a big brown cow jumping over them. On the other side is a scene where there are several bulls painted one on top of the other which gives the impression o a large herd. Further toward the end of the chamber is a jumping horse and at the bottom of the chamber a fallen horse on its back legs in the air.

As with many of the other caves with paintings or engravings in them the artists have used the natural shapes of the rocks upon which to base their animals. They also have several animals merging into each other and using the same lines for more than one animal. And every animal in Lascaux is depicted in motion none are stationary. There are also lots of strange markings which are referred to as “enigmatic symbols” which again seem to appear in all the painted caves. Fantastic.

Puy de Bon Temps Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.91  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 20th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: This dolmen can be found about a kilometre walk up a forest track from the D68 between Ajat and Cubjac just north of where it passes under the new motorway and opposite a quarry entrance. It is just about signposted from the road but they are very easy to miss and when the track gets to the top of the hill you need to turn left and then left again.

The dolmen is all a bit of a jumble with many of the stones fallen and broken but the main part of the capstone about 3 by 2 metres in size is still there in position although held up by what I can only assume are roof timbers from some old building.

Just beside the dolmen is one of the cute little drystone beehive shelters (Gariotte?) that they have round here (and you can buy guide books and coffee table picture books of). Its in excellent condition with a terrific roof all covered in moss. I assume its been made using stone from the cairn for the dolmen although there is no shortage of stone round here.

Peyrebrune megalith

Trip No.203  Entry No.92  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Couldn't find on 20th May 2005

Log Text: Near the hamlet of Rozas to the east of Saint-Orse is the farm called Peyre Brune where there are some megalithic remains. I understand it is a large menhir but with stories surrounding it that it is a meteorite which has crashed to earth. On the tiny roads in this area I could find nowhere to park or indeed turn round so gave up perhaps a bit too easily.

Pierre du Diable (Vitrac)

Trip No.203  Entry No.93  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 20th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: What I found here was a tiny little dolmen right beside the road which is being incorporated into a garden wall a few kilometres south of Sarlat-le-Caneda on top of a hill towards Vitrac. The capstone is not 2 metres by 2 metres and sits on a couple of stones both less than a foot in size. Its probable that there was more to this dolmen which is now under some trees and in the garden wall.

Langlade Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.94  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Couldn't find on 21st May 2005

Log Text: I spent hours looking for this after it looked easy on the 1:25000 map in the supermarket. To start with I was looking on the wrong ridge for a different stone called Cayrelevada. After asking some people logging in a forest they pointed me in the right direction which was several kilometres away ! The book says it’s a beau dolmen beside the road in a garden in the hamlet of Langlade. Try as I might I couldn’t find this. I even looked in the woods around here. I really do need the 1:25000 maps to hunt these things down but at €10 a time for such small areas that’s just not on.

Cayre Levat

Trip No.203  Entry No.95  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Couldn't find on 21st May 2005

Log Text: I drove round all the lanes I could find north of St Amande looking for something here but other than signs pointing to the farm of the same name I couldn’t find that farm. None of them seem to have names. I saw a poste van and was tempted to stop it and ask the postman. I was not helped by long winding lanes with nowhere to turn and various road works.

Bonarme Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.96  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 21st May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This was a pleasant find northwest of Belvès where there is a nicely arranged forest park area with a waymarked and signposted walk. The dolmen is still partially buried in its tumulus with remains of a stone circle or perhaps two still surviving around its outside. The capstone is about 3 m by 2.5 m and still covering a rectangular chamber which is completely dry which can be seen down below the level of the surrounding ground.

It has been dated to 3000 BC and the capstone has several markings in the top of it which are probably natural and caused by freezing and thawing action. However there is a legend surrounding the dolmen about the marks in the top being the imprints of cows feet on the stone. To me a couple at the north end could well have been cows feet but at the other end of the capstone there are most definitely two imprints of a giant’s feet.

Bonarme polissoirs

Trip No.203  Entry No.97  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Polissoir Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 21st May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Further into the forest from the Bonarme dolmen are two polissoir stones dated to about 3000 BC which can also be found by following the marked and signposted forest walk for a kilometre or so. It’s a nice little spot on a hillside with an ancient spring below and some hut circles above. While I was there it was very humid and buzzing with insects.

One of the two stones has about 6 grooves in it with a natural basin for holding water a necessity for the polishing action. The other stone is superb and has about 10 grooves and flat polishing areas on it all of different sizes and in different parts of the stone almost a complete toolkit. Unfortunately the end of the stone has been broken off which may have had more grooves. I was not the first person here to rub a bit of stone up and down in the grooves as some are still well polished.

Its quite moving sitting rubbing a stone up and down in a groove thinking people were doing exactly this thousands of years ago. There's a little signpost telling about the stones which reckons that the sort of polished axes found around here would have taken about 70 hours each to have polished properly into shape. Too much like hard work !

Cayra Levada

Trip No.203  Entry No.98  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 21st May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Just beside a little road northwest of Belvès but fenced in a garden and becoming overgrown this 1.5 metre high dolmen had several polished axes found within it. There’s a raised capstone on a couple of supports but its difficult to make out much more.

While sitting making notes here I got overrun and attacked by a lot of vicious little ants and am still paying the price for sitting down carelessly 12 hours later. Bastards !

Allée couverte de Blanc

Trip No.203  Entry No.99  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 21st May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: At last I have found one which is signposted and looked after. It’s a couple of kilometres south of Beaumont on the D.676 towards Villereal and is in a little signposted area with parking and lots and lots of orchids around everywhere. Its said to be one of the best preserved megalithic remains in the Perigord region and if that’s the case the rest aren’t much to look out for !

The original allée was supposedly 12 metres in length but its now cut short and I only counted 6 metres length of remains. The main chamber is in two parts facing on an alignment of 100° and consists of only two capstones sitting on 3 or 4 side slabs each side. Interestingly the western end is only about a metre wide and a metre high but the eastern end is much larger easily double the size of the closed west end. The south side is continuous while the northern side is stepped out

Dolmen de Peyre Nègre

Trip No.203  Entry No.100  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 21st May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: 500 metres to the west of the Le Blanc allée couverte in a field just beside the road to Naussannes this dolmen has become covered in brambles and bushes. It is still 2 metres high the large capstone resting on at least three big support stones of which at least one has collapsed.

This one is guarded by a tricky barbed wire gate which caught my shirt on the way in and on the way out I tripped on it and it ripped my trousers and leg to shreds. Its obviously one of those days.

Dolmen de Case du Loup

Trip No.203  Entry No.101  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Couldn't find on 21st May 2005

Log Text: This dolmen is supposedly 2.5 metres high and three metres long. But beware it houses a giant and monstrous wolf with eyes burning with fire. I spent hours in the hamlet of Larocale looking for this and asked many people who didn’t know until I fond a man out strimmering in the garden who did at least know of its existence. It turned out he was a Professor of Prehistory but of older stuff than megaliths. He told me where to find the dolmen “turn right then right again and up a footpath into the wood on the left about a kilometre. Its small and difficult to find” but he knew of none of the others in the area.

Too right it was difficile a trouver. The wood was being cleared and logged by a man with a tractor splitting logs who I asked but he knew nothing. I had a look round but could find nothing. Just where is that monstrous Loup when you nee him ? On my way back to the Campingcar a couple of the people who I had asked enquired if I had found it. No such luck. One lady then told me about the dolmen at Nojals. At least they know of that one round these parts.

Dolmen de Pincanelle

Trip No.203  Entry No.102  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Couldn't find on 21st May 2005

Log Text: I spent ages walking around many small lanes near the hamlet of Pincanelle looking for this 5 metre long dolmen capstone and asked an old lady in her garden but got nowhere. The lady apparently has no interest in such things and didn’t want to help although she was very interested in what I was doing !

Le Breil Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.103  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Couldn't find on 21st May 2005

Log Text: Could I find this ? Nope.

Dolmen de Pedorat

Trip No.203  Entry No.104  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Couldn't find on 21st May 2005

Log Text: Could I find this ? Nope.

Menhir dit le Caillou (Boisse)

Trip No.203  Entry No.105  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Couldn't find on 21st May 2005

Log Text: Could I find this ? Nope.