Eyzies-de-Tayac, Les
Eyzies-de-Tayac, Les
(lā zāzē`-də-tīäk`), orLes Eyzies,
village (1993 est. pop. 856), Dordogne dept., SW France, on the Vézère River. Situated some 15 mi (24 km) SW of the Lascaux caves (see Paleolithic artPaleolithic art, art produced during the Paleolithic period. Study and knowledge of this art largely have been confined to works discovered at many sites in W Europe, where the most magnificent surviving examples are paintings in a number of caves in N Spain and S France, but
..... Click the link for more information. ), the village is in an area rich in prehistoric remains. The more than 100 archaeological sites nearby include the Cro-Magnon cave, which gave its name to the human skulls dating from the Paleolithic periodPaleolithic period
or Old Stone Age,
the earliest period of human development and the longest phase of mankind's history. It is approximately coextensive with the Pleistocene geologic epoch, beginning about 2 million years ago and ending in various places between
..... Click the link for more information. 's Aurignacian culture that were found (1868) there; the Combarelles, Grand Roc, and Font-de-Gaum caverns, where Paleolithic paintings and carvings were discovered (1901); Le Moustier cave, which yielded a human skeleton and chipped flints and gave its name to the Mousterian culture associated with Neanderthal manNeanderthal man
or Neandertal man
, a species of Homo, the genus to which contemporary humans belong, known as H. neandertalensis after Neanderthal (now Neandertal), Germany, the valley where the first specimen to be identified was found.
..... Click the link for more information. ; and La Madeleine rock shelter, whose tools and carvings defined the characteristics of the Magdalenian culture. Les Eyzies-de-Tayac is home to the National Museum of Prehistory, which contains one of world's the finest collection of early European artifacts.