Roquefort Settlement

Trip No.203  Entry No.230  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: France (Aquitaine:Gironde (33))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 3rd Jun 2005

Log Text: Not far from the Chateau, on a wooded promontary in the river, are the remains of a bronze / iron age promontary fort and settlement.

La Palanque de Peyre

Trip No.203  Entry No.232  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Aquitaine:Gironde (33))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd Jun 2005

Log Text: I had a look all around the region here, but with nothing marked on any of my maps, and nothing signed from the village, I gave up, as after all the time I had spent looking for Bignon I had to move on.

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.

Peyre d'Ermale

Trip No.203  Entry No.58  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2005. My rating: Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Marked on my ign map as a menhir but signposted along a track from the road as Dolmen I parked and walked to see what I could find.

What I eventually found after about a kilometre walk was a strange lump of natural rock which has been shaped has a squarish cut out in one side and a round basin to the south with little channels cut in the surrounding rocks to presumably collect water.

I have no idea what this is meant to be and indeed no idea whether this is the proper megalithic remains! Later I find out that this is indeed the remains of a megalithic burial chamber (dolmen a bit incorrect perhaps). And thet there is also a menhir nearby. I wonder where that was then.

Dolmen de Peyrelevade (Paussac)

Trip No.203  Entry No.57  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 4

Log Text: This is a nice little dolmen in a pleasant open bit of land with lots of orchids butterflies and lizards at the time of my visit on a sunny May morning. Its just off the D93 between St Vivien and Paussac 50 metres down a little track which is signposted from the road.

The dolmen consists of a strangely layered dark reddish brown/black capstone sitting on 5 limestone supports about 2 metres off the ground covering a chamber of dimensions approximately 3m by 2m. What looks like a further fallen capstone and an extra chamber is at the western end and there are lots of big stones around. Perhaps it was once a much bigger or multiple chambered type of thing.

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.

Abri de Cro-Magnon

Trip No.203  Entry No.82  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 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Up a little track to the side of the Cro-Magnon hotel along the road to the railway station can be found this sad little UNESCO World Heritage site where the Cro-Magnon man was discovered in 1868 by Francois Berthoumeyron as they were clearing the way for the road to the railway station.

Despite all the hustle and bustle in Les Eyzies and all the attractions crying out for your visit this place does not even have a signpost. Its nothing much to see just a little rock shelter in the cliff face shaded by a couple of large chestnut trees with a little walled and fenced area around it. It looks a bit like a large garden feature or something from a cemetery tucked round the back and almost forgotten.

Once you have found it there is a sign in fact two the official UNESCO World Heritage site plate and a little plaque commemorating the discovery. I am surprised it is not a bit of a pilgrimage site like so many others around here in this village which thrives on its reputation as the home of Cro-Magnon man.

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.

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.

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

Le Bourdil Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.106  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: Supposedly close to the D.19 but I couldn’t find it. Have to say that by now I wasn’t looking hard. Maybe tomorrow.

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.

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.

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.

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 !

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.

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 de Lartet

Trip No.203  Entry No.84  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 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This cliff shelter was discovered by Lartet in 1863 and is classed as a National Historic Monument. Its just a few metres up the valley side from its more famous neighbour Abri du Poisson.

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 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.