Decorated Grottoes of the Vézère Valley

Decorated Grottoes of the Vézère Valley, France contains 147 prehistoric sites which dates back to the Palaeolithic era. There are also twenty five decorated caves here that are interesting from the anthropological and ethnological perspective. The cave paintings have an aesthetic touch specially those found in the Lascaux Cave.

Lascaux is basically an underground cave at the Decorated Grottoes of the Vézère Valley, France. The cave was formed when water percolated through limestone during the Tertiary period. It comprises of several smaller chambers and on large caverns. Here you will find 600 works of Stone Age artists in shades of red, brown, yellow and black.

The paintings at Decorated Grottoes of the Vézère Valley, France depict different animals like aurochs, an extinct species of wild ox, red deer, horses and ibex. These animal figures are accompanied by dots and geometric motifs of uncertain significance. Paintings of small figures like deers and horses can be found in a large chamber known as the Hall of the Bulls. There are also huge aurochs, measuring 5m long beside these paintings. There is only a single painting of human form depicting a bird-headed man which appears to be falling away from a bull, he had possibly wounded with a spear. Swimming Deer is the other well known group of figures found in the cave.

Tourist Attractions in France
Canal du Midi	Cathedral of Amiens
Church of Saint-Savin sur Gartempe	Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay
Decorated Grottoes of the Vézère Valley	Palace and Park of Fontainebleau
Place Stanislas	Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans
Scandola Nature Reserve	Triumphal Arch of Orange
Vézelay, Church and Hill

The paintings at the Decorated Grottoes of the Vézère Valley at France suggest that the artists probably used ladders and scaffolding. Charcoal, spear points, lamps, pigments and engraving tools on the floor of the cave were discovered by the archaeologists. It is the opinion of the archaeologists that the caves at the Decorated Grottoes of the Vézère Valley in France were visited by the Stone Age people for different rituals.

These caves were discovered way back in 1940 and also the paintings found here were in a well preserved state. When in the year 1948, the caves were opened for public viewing, 100,000 visitors came here to view these famous paintings. However in the year 1963 th original caves were closed and its replica was constructed, known as Lascaux II. The same pigments and methods were used by the original artists to construct Lascaux II. Ever since it was opened in 1983, about 300,000 visitors had visited this place during their France tours.