Vézère valley: sites and cave paintings

Vézère valley: sites and cave paintings
UNESCO world heritage
Lascaux cave painting
National territory:	France
Type:	Culture
Criteria :	(i) (iii)
Reference No .:	85
UNESCO region :	Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment:	1979  ( session 3 )

Vézère Valley: sites and cave paintings called a World Heritage of UNESCO in the department of Dordogne in the former region Aquitaine in southwestern France . Located on the lower reaches of the Vézère , the world heritage includes 147 prehistoric sites and 25 decorated caves in an area of ​​around 30 by 40 kilometers . In addition to the finds of human skeletons, an important collection of objects has been brought together, which at the time of the inscription of the cultural heritage comprised more than 500,000 flint objects, 148 animal remains and 844 different everyday objects and artistic works. This collection made it possible to establish a chronology of Stone Age cultures in Europe.

The objects and works of art from the Vézère Valley are an important testimony to cultures that have long since passed and go back to the Paleolithic . Some of the pictorial representations are recognized worldwide as masterpieces of prehistoric art. Examples include the Venus von Laussel , the high relief horse frieze from Cap-Blanc and the well-known cave paintings from Lascaux , the discovery of which in 1940 was of great importance for the history of prehistoric art. Particularly interesting from an ethnological , anthropological and aesthetic point of view are the cave paintings, especially those of the Lascaux cave. The artfully composed hunting scenes show around 100 animal figures, whose attention to detail, richness of color and lifelike representation are remarkable.

In 1979, the sites were first entered on the list of world cultural heritage under the name of French Grottes ornées de la Vallée de la Vézère or English the Decorated Caves of the Valley of the Vézère . In 2006, the World Heritage was renamed Sites préhistoriques et grottes ornées de la vallée de la Vézère or Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley . The enrollment thus initially referred primarily to the decorated caves, but now also expressly includes the archaeological sites.

List of individual sites

A comprehensive list of all individual sites cannot be given here. In the documentation of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, the following sites and caves are listed by name.

Ref.No.	image	Name of the site	annotation	location	local community
85-001		Abri de Cro-Magnon	freely accessible site	44 ° 56 ′ 25.6 "  N , 1 ° 0 ′ 34.6"  E	Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil
85-002		Abri du Poisson	Visits by appointment only	44 ° 56 '38.8 "  N , 0 ° 59" 54.2 "  E	Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil
85-003		Font de Gaume	Access for a limited number of visitors	44 ° 56 '5 "  N , 1 ° 1' 44"  E	Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil
85-004		La Micoque	Visits by appointment only	44 ° 57 '27.6 "  N , 1 ° 0' 22.2"  E	Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil
85-005		La Mouthe	Closed	44 ° 55 '28.9 "  N , 1 ° 1' 14.1"  E	Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil
85-006		Laugerie basse	Open to visitors, ongoing excavations	44 ° 57 '3.8 "  N , 0 ° 59' 57.5"  E	Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil
85-007		Laugerie haute	Visits by appointment only	44 ° 57 ′ 11.8 "  N , 1 ° 0 ′ 12.3"  E	Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil
85-008		Le Grand Roc	open to visitors	44 ° 56 ′ 58.2 "  N , 0 ° 59 ′ 54"  E	Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil
85-009		Les Combarelles	Access for a limited number of visitors	44 ° 56 '36.8 "  N , 1 ° 2' 31.6"  E	Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil
85-010		Le Cap Blanc	Access for a limited number of visitors	44 ° 56 '44.3 "  N , 1 ° 5' 50.6"  E	Marquay
85-011		Lascaux	closed	45 ° 3 ′ 13.3 "  N , 1 ° 10 ′ 12"  E	Montignac
85-012		Cro de Granville	also Cro de Rouffignac, access for a limited number of visitors	45 ° 0 ′ 31.7 "  N , 0 ° 59 ′ 15.5"  E	Rouffignac-Saint-Cernin-de-Reilhac
85-013		Roc de Saint-Cirq	Access for a limited number of visitors	44 ° 55 '33.9 "  N , 0 ° 58' 2.9"  E	Saint-Cirq
85-014		Le Moustier	Visits by appointment only	44 ° 59 '39.6 "  N , 1 ° 3' 35.5"  E	Saint-Léon-sur-Vézère
85-015		La Madeleine	inaccessible	44 ° 58 '6 "  N , 1 ° 1' 50.8"  E	Tursac

swell

• Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
• Advisory Body Evaluation (ICOMOS) / Evaluation de l'organization consultative (ICOMOS). (pdf, 106 kB) UNESCO World Heritage Center, March 8, 1979, accessed on June 18, 2017 (French / English). 
• Natascha Albus u. a .: The UNESCO World Heritage . Monuments of humanity - wonders of nature. Kunth Verlag , Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-95504-413-8 , pp. 88 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley - Multiple Locations. UNESCO World Heritage Center, accessed June 18, 2017 . 

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap