Living History by Polly Thompson- Part 2

Diary of an Archaeologist

Palaeolithic sites in the Vezere Valley

Vezere Valley, France

Tear your hair out all you historians, the Palaeolithic era lasted over 2 million years of human activity and they did not write so there are NO books where they recorded what they did! However they did leave painted scenes in caves and a range of stone tools. Archaeologists excavate these sites and research the evidence to learn how they did live.

I begin my archaeologist's diary with the earliest dated site I worked on, a Middle Palaeolithic cave shelter site at Les Eyzies du Tayac, in the Vezere region.

Palaeolithic is from the Greek for old - 'palaios', and stone – 'lithic'. It was  period when humans used their skills to knap a range of tools from hammers, scrapers, axes, borers and blades, from flint, jasper  or churt stone. It is the longest extending period in human prehistory, stretching from the earliest types of hominids in the Lower Palaeolithic period lasting from 2 million years to about 100 thousand years ago. Middle Palaeolithic and the emergence of Modern humans from 100 thousand to about 50 KYA (thousand years ago); and the Upper Palaeolithic 50KYA to about 12KYA. For most of this time it was very COLD. The last period of maximum glaciation was from 25KYA to 10KYA the coldest period being around 18KYA.

The middle Vezere Valley, in the Dordorgne, south-western France, is a key area of Palaeolithic prehistory. The river Vezere meanders through a deep valley with steep sided limestone cliffs.    Imagine a world in a sheltered valley with caves and a wide river, abundant with fish, reindeer, birds and auroch. Selecting a good site for a settlement was important and stone age folk certainly reckonised an ideal site when they saw one. In this valley there are 147 Palaeolithic sites and 37 decorated caves! The oldest sites from the Middle Palaeolithic are higher up the cliffs where there would be a plentiful supply of raw material to knap flint tools. Just as we select a favourable area to live today, it was important to choose a site that would be sheltered and well protected, located above the flood plain and that gave access to open plateau areas for hunting.

Upper Palaeolithic sites are found closer the the river, near shallow river beds giving natural fords and offering a good view of the valley.

Although they are often called cave men they did not live inside the caves. They used the shelter of the mouth of the caves to work and only used the deep interiors for gatherings. The Upper Palaeolithic was the period when skilled artists excelled in painting vibrant scenes of animals from the world around them on the ceilings of the caves.

Who needs recorded history when you have caves? Caves are ideal 'controlled environments' with unvarying light temperature and humidity. The reds, yellows and rich brown and black oxides and ochres they used for the painting make the art as a vibrant today as when they were painted. Caves were often subequently sealed by rock falls and remained undisturbed for thousand of years. Rough scaffolding used to reach the roof for painting, earth pigments and the brushes made from twigs and even foot prints remain to be discovered.

Cave Painting found in the Vezere Valley, France

It is possible to visit an accurate replica of Lascaux the major painted cave in the area. I visited many of the caves while I was working on the excavation. The earliest sites have animal images engraved into rocks where the contours already suggested the forms of haunches or shoulders. I was lucky enough to be shown around by the flickering light of flambeau torches and the engravings certainly appear very life-like.

When I worked on a Middle Palaeolithic site at Les Eyzies du Tayac, which involved a steep uphill climb up to the rock shelter at the start of work each day. The site was used to knap flints to make hunting tools and use bone needles to work skins which they wore. As it remained undisturbed, the surface where they worked contains vital information for researching life in the Middle Palaeolithic.   In order to reveal all the artifacts exactly as they had fallen onto the surface 70KYA, the  area had to be meticulously excavated with a sensitive bamboo knife (rather than the usual trowel) and  a fine brush. Each archaeologist worked on a 50 centimeter quadrant, in bare feet, to keep disturbance of the surface to minimum. There were many flint flakes discarded in the making of tools, tools made from flint, jasper and a rare one of crystal, bone needles and any ochre decorated stone.

At Les Eyzies there is now a museum near where the cave shelter that we excavated, where you can see all the flints and other objects found and learn more about life during this period.