Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley
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How it came to be
The Vézère valley in south-west France holds 147 Palaeolithic sites and 25 decorated caves. The traces of human occupation span from about 400,000 to 10,000 years ago. Fifteen of these sites make up the World Heritage property, and the Venus of Laussel and the horse frieze of Cap Blanc were found here.
On 12 September 1940, 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat found a cave entrance in a hole left by a fallen tree and returned with three friends to go inside. This was Lascaux. Its walls carry animals and other figures usually dated to 17,000 to 22,000 years ago, and on 21 September Abbé Henri Breuil went in with the boys and made many sketches.
Lascaux opened to the public in 1948, but carbon dioxide and humidity from about 1,200 visitors a day damaged the paintings, and it closed in 1963. A partial replica, Lascaux II, opened nearby in 1983, and a full copy of the cave, Lascaux IV, in 2016. The valley was inscribed in 1979.
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