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L’Abris Cro-Magnon
This is where the name Cro-Magnon came from, a little hamlet that is now part of the village of Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac. It is at the railway level-crossing just south of the railway station. Opposite the crossing is the Hotel Cro-Magnon, and to the left – as you look at the hotel – is a small gravel lane leading up, parallel to the road to Tayac and the station, to a house. Just to the side of this house, under the shelter of the overhanging cliff is the place where Cro-Magnon man was first discovered.
Nothing remains here now other than a UNESCO World Heritage Site plaque, a lime tree and some ferns growing at the base of the cliff. It is possibly the one single site in the Vezere valley where you can sit, close your eyes and imagine the peace and quiet of the valley all those eons ago.
The artefacts found here are now on display in various museums around the world, including the National Museum of Prehistory just a few hundred metres away down the road. (The main artefact – the Cro-Magnon skull is still in the Musee de l’Homme in Paris…even after the move of most of that museum to the Musee du quai Branly)
From L’Abris Cro-Magnon, you can walk back to Les-Eyzies or cross the road to the various shelters and caves that line the right bank of the Vezere (including the L’Abris de Poisson and le Grand Roc). In the hamlet of Tayac further down the lane, is a more peaceful part of Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac, including its important church.
