The Dordogne Prehistoric Cave Art
From the fierce debate which raged during the 19th century about the age and authenticity of decorated caves, to the most recent scientific research, the Dordogne has been at the centre of study of prehistory for many years.
The art in question belongs to the period approximately between 40,000 BC to 10,000 BC. To many, this period (known as the late Pleistocene) is so remote that it is difficult to envisage man as anything more than a ‘squat grunting savage’. However, we know that primitive forms of human had been making stone tools for more than 2 million years, and that Homo sapiens, the modern form of humankind to which we belong, evolved nearly 100,000 years ago.
Travel Between that time and the phase of cave decoration, Neanderthal man and his associated stone industries had come and gone, so that by 35,000 BC an advanced society of hunting and gathering humans of modern form was sufficiently well-established to combat the rigours of the final extreme cold phase of the Ice Age.
