"Montignac" Montignac by mke1963

Sunny Montignac with the sluggish Vezere river slipping past, hasn't always been this way. Between 10 and around 50,000 years ago - that's before TV existed, folks - the area was dry and desperately cold as the last Ice Age receded. The limestone cliffs along the Vezere provided welcome shelter from the bitter cold winds and Palaeolithic humans settled underneath them. The key to their development was the existence of reindeer: from them these early people got all the meat, bone and antlers they needed to sustain their livelihoods. As the temperature rose steadily over thousands of years, the need for the shelter reduced and these people moved out into the forests, much as we see today.

In 1940, a young man out on the slopes above the sleepy village of Montignac was surprised to lose his dog down a crack in the rock-face. he returned with three friends, and with the aid of a rope they clambered down into the Lascaux caves, one of the most fabulous cave art complexes discovered in the world to date.

Until 1963, vast numbers of visitors came to marvel at the paintings on the rock face, but incresaing damage to the paintings meant that they have had to be permanently closed. In 1983, a facsimile cave was opened just 200 metres away, and it is now one of the great attractions in southern France. Barely one kilometre away, at Le Regourdou, remains of Neanderthal man were found. It is no surprise that the Decorated Caves of the Vezere valley were among the first French cultural sites to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. back in the 1980s, that really meant something. Now your garden shed can get on the UNESCO list if it is painted orange and has a pane of glass missing.

Today, sleepy little Montignac is an upmarket town: still sleepy, but in a contrived manner. Not many French towns this size have a one-way system. Despite the crowds, Montignac is a remarkably attractive and friendly little place, with good cafes and restaurants and other prehistoric and more recent attractions nearby. When the visitor tires of the Solutrean era, microliths and aurochs, there are many kilometres of wooded valleys and plateaus to wander, rivers to canoe and places to sit and do nothing. The French have patented the art of sitting around and doing nothing for very long periods of time; it's called lunch and in Montignac it lasts from around 11am until sometime after 7. Live with it. If this hectic pace of life is just too irritating, move here and start a campaign for everything to slow down a little more.