Département Dordogne

The département Dordogne is named after the Dordogne River. Another common name is Périgord, which was the name of the same geographic area before the French Revolution. The name Périgord is still common, often used by the locals, who are called Périgordiens or Périgourdins.

The Dordogne is famous for its multiple prehistoric remains, and those remains are often connected with caves or abris. The French word abri means shelter, it is commonly used for very short caves and overhangig rocks, which were ideal shelters for prehistoric man. Despite the term cave man, our anchestor did not live in caves but outside. They just used natural shelters where available, and mostly lived and worked in the entrance region where they had enough light.

In the Dordogne, between the rivers of Vézère and Dordogne more than a dozen important prehistoric caves with paintings, engravings and sculptures are open to the public. Most of the caves are located around the village Les Eyzies. The most famous cave in this area is Lascaux near Montignac.

The painted caves are open to the public, but in a rather restricted way! Most of them allow only a very limited number of visitors every day, to protect the paintings. This includes the necessity to pre-book in some caves. It is a good idea to call the caves for booking or try to get a ticket very early in the morning.