The National Museum of Prehistory Practical information At the same time place of memory for the History of Prehistory, place of en.musee-prehistoire-eyzies.fr conservation of archaeological objects, study center and place of dissemination Terrace of constantly increasing knowledge, the National Museum of Prehistory Castle has been, since its founding at the beginning of the 20th century, a place Address for under 26s from Europe of reference for prehistorians as well as visitors from all over the world. Musée national de Préhistoire and on the 1 FREE

st Sunday of each It was created in 1913 thanks to Denis Peyrony in the sixteenth century castle. After a 1 rue du Musée month  rst extension in the late 1960s (Froideveaux buildings), the current museum, designed 24260 Les Eyzies by the Parisian architect Jean-Pierre Bu , was inaugurated in 2004. Upper Gallery Opening Hours Lifestyles - Art and rites July and August | 9.30 am – 6.30 pm every day KEY EXHIBITS June and September | 9.30 am – 6 pm, closed on Tuesdays October to May | 9. 30 am – 12.30 pm and 2 pm – 5.30 pm, closed on Tuesdays Visit itinerary Closed on 25th December and 1st January Last admission 45 minutes before closing time Grand Abri Evacuation of the Lower gallery 30 minutes before closing time Statue View point Services -Ticket o ce / shop / individual bookings | Tel. 00 33 (0)5 53 06 45 49 Lower Gallery -Booking for Conferences at the Museum Auditorium | Tel. 00 33 (0)5 53 06 45 49 Cultures and environments -Group bookings | Tel. 00 33 (0)5 53 06 45 65 Chronologies Email : [email protected] Children area Wheelchair access Guided Tours Visit itinerary Guided tours in English are available Ground oor: the African origins of Humankind. Temporary Detailed program at the reception desk and on the internet : en.musee-prehistoire- Lower gallery (1st oor): major cultural and exhibition room eyzies.fr/prepare-your-arrival/program environmental changes related to Neanderthal and Homo sapiens (or Cro-Magnon), succession of cultures Keep in touch! perceptible through tools, evocation of cold and Museum newsletter (in French only) : http://musee-prehistoire-eyzies.fr/newsletter/ temperate fauna... Play area for children (Le Camp des subscriptions petits sapiens) visit Neko and printing: Agence Design Bougard- Estelle Jugie- Contents: Eyzies-Distr.RMN-Ph. MNP Les Photos: Download the smarphone application : Upper gallery (2nd oor): lifestyles and symbolic Extra activities expression: collecting, hunting,  shing, processing Visits and conferences for all audiences (adults, of raw materials, living spaces, burials, ornaments, children and families) are available. Events such as portable and parietal art... Ground oor PlayStore AppStore Reception - Shop temporary exhibitions, scienti c conferences open Outdoor terrace: access to the large rock shelter (grand to all, family days, educational projects follow one abri) with medieval settlements and the castle, to the Auditorium another throughout the year (programs at the viewpoint on the Vézère valley, to the famous statue of reception desk and on our website). primitive man sculpted by Paul Dardé (1931). Find us on : 16 must-see essential objects Stratigraphy of Le Moustier Biface Solutrean laurel leaf Domestication of the dog Sculpted aurochs from Fourneau- Aurignacian decorated block from Bison licking its side from Spear thrower This section is showing the Versatile tool fashioned in stone In the Upper Palaeolithic (Homo Recent research, supported by the progress of du-Diable La Ferrassie La Madeleine The fashioning of weapons and tools in bone gradual accumulation between ( int, sandstone, quartz…), sapiens time),  int knapping genetics, has made it possible to assert that the material became common in the Upper These carved aurochs, accompanied by indeter- In the early Aurignacian, the  rst Homo sapiens A major work of art from the Upper Palaeolithic, 56,000 and 36,000 years ago the biface (or handaxe) was brought to its peak by the  rst animal domesticated by Homo sapiens was Palaeolithic, with Homo sapiens. Thus the spear minate animals, were originally on a rock shelter arrived in the Vézère Valley developed an artistic this small reindeer antler sculpture represents a of sediments, rocks and traces appears in Europe around Solutreans, who fashioned real indeed the dog (from the wolf), as early as 15,000 thrower, from 20,000 years ago, is intended to wall that collapsed about 20,000 years ago. They expression on rock walls or blocks made of sexual bison turning its head to lick its back. The attitude of human occupations (in 700,000 ago, at the time of “stone leaves.” Utility objects years ago and perhaps even earlier. Afterwards, increase the power and the throwing range illustrate the mastery of relief sculpture and show symbols (mostly female: “vulvae”) and, more rarely, and numerous anatomical details underline a blue-gray,  int fragments) at Le pre-Neanderthals (Homo for the smaller ones (projectile it is only in the Neolithic with the invention of of the spear. It is rather a weapon for an open connections with the painted art of Lascaux, per- schematic animals. The female symbols, deeply search for naturalism mingled with a stylization Moustier. Neanderthal people heidelbergensis), as a points or knives), perhaps agriculture that the practice of domesticating environment. Di erent types exist: simple hooks, haps contemporary, through their style (propor- engraved, are human representations typical of typical of the Magdalenian. The site of the have long occupied the site, characteristic of the laden with symbols for the animals extended. carved objects, with grooves, etc. tions, perspective, anatomical details...). this period: fragmentary (a part to symbolise the Madeleine (which gave its name to the period) before the  nal occupation Acheulean. Later, it was largest ones, they show a great whole?) and/or caricature-like. shows numerous examples of this portable art. by Homo sapiens. The relative found throughout the technical mastery. About dating by stratigraphy is based Middle Palaeolithic, 20,000 years ago, a series of on one principle: the deepest or Mousterian, inventions accompany them, levels are the oldest. From the associated with such as the needle and the 1950s, it was supplemented Neanderthals. A spear thrower. by various methods of perfectly symmetrical measurement or counting, tool that may indicate called absolute dating. some aesthetic research, the biface highlights the emergence of abstract thinking in human evolution. Upper gallery Lower gallery Children area

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Jadeite polished axe Megaloceros The polished axe is the emblematic Life-size, the now tool of the Neolithic period (from extinct megaloceros Le Moustier’ s new- – 7,000 in France), when people (Megaloceros giganteus) born settled in villages of farmers and lived in Europe between This skeleton of a herders and massively cleared Lamp of Lascaux 2 million and 10,000 years Neanderthal newborn is forests for crop growing. The Found in the cave of Lascaux at the foot of the The child of La Madeleine and Hearth of Laugerie-Haute ago. Adapted to temperate the most complete in Western material (Jadeite imported from famous Scene du Puits, this grease lamp is one his ornaments The oldest documented traces of  re in Europe and humid climate, Europe. It was buried in a pit about Steppe bison skeleton the Alps) and the size of this axe of the most beautiful lamps fashioned in the This grave sheltered the body of a young child buried Ivory ornaments from Abri Castanet date back to around 500,000 years ago. The hearths sometimes associated with 40,000 years ago, making it one of The Bison priscus is particularly adapted to the make it an exceptional object, Palaeolithic. Carved in pink sandstone, its handle in a simple pit with a lot of ochre. It is about 10,000 Jewelry seems to have held an important place certainly structured the living spaces, provided cold faunas, it is the largest the last Neanderthals in the region, cold. It lived in a steppe environment. Large, its a sign of wealth emphasizing is decorated with nested signs similar to those years old. Numerous ornaments accompanied the among Palaeolithic Homo sapiens. In addition to sea heat, light and protection against predators but also of all Cervidae. It has been before they were replaced by Homo shoulder height is up to 2 m and it weighs up to an increase in the hierarchy of visible on the walls of the cave and on spearheads, body (more than 1,500 elements), made of pierced shells and pierced animal teeth, a series of mammoth allowed various modes of food preparation... This occasionally depicted in some decorated caves sapiens. In Europe, the Neanderthals were 1 ton. It is common in archaeological and natural societies. also found in Le Puits. Lamps of this type have teeth and seashells, probably sewn on a clothing ivory beads have been made around 35,000 ago in small combustion structure dates back from 20,000 including Pair-non-Pair (33), Arcy-sur-Cure (89), the  rst to bury their dead, showing the sites. It disappeared from our regions about 12,000 been found in deep decorated sanctuaries but worn during his lifetime. The great wealth of this various Aurignacian sites, including Abri Castanet. years ago, period of the last Glacial Maximum, and Chauvet-Pont d’Arc (07), Cougnac (46) and rather in existence of symbolic thinking and a certain social years ago. It is frequently represented in Upper also exceptionally on open-air sites as in Solvieux ensemble is interpreted as the sign of a speci c and, The manufacturing steps were reconstituted thanks contains ashes, charred bone remains and heated the early Upper Palaeolithic. structuring. Palaeolithic art (for example in Font-de-Gaume). (neighboring showcase). in the case of a very young child, hereditary social status. to the discovery of true specialized workshops. river pebbles.