Estaque d'Avezac cinq tumuli

Trip No.205  Entry No.48  Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: France (Midi:Hautes-Pyrénées (65))
Visited: Yes on 5th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: To the west of the village of La Barthe-sur-Neste, and southeast of Capvern, along the hilltop beside the D.938 road, is a row of tumulus mounds. Most are now obvious only because of the ferns and stuff left growing on them, but the northwestern end tumulus is very well formed, 12 metres in diameter, 2 metres high and with a large cross on top. The row extends for about 1 kilometre, and there were probably once many more mounds to be found here, now mostly ploughed out or destroyed by the road.

Estaque tumulus

Trip No.205  Entry No.47  Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Midi:Hautes-Pyrénées (65))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 5th Sep 2005

Log Text: To the west of the village of La Barthe-sur-Neste, and northeast of the row of tumuli along the ridgetop road, can be found the remains of the Estaque tumulus. This is a very large mound, now contained beyond the confines of a rubbish facility, and not easy to access, although it can just about be seen from the road.

Grotte de Gargas

Trip No.205  Entry No.46  Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Midi:Hautes-Pyrénées (65))
Visited: Yes on 5th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: This is the cave which is famous for all the hand prints, but there is in fact much more than these to be seen. The cave is easily found round some windy lanes, being well signposted, and it is open every day, €6 entry per adult to visit, which takes about an hour. The visit is on two levels, which were two separate caves in prehistoric times, the joining together of which was done in the 19th century. The two caves are both very different, being used at different times in the past.

The upper level is a large, vertically oriented, well calcite decorated cave, within which are some paintings of animals in either red oxide or black manganese. There are bison, bouquetin and deer. The lower level has some panels with different animals engraved into the walls, which demonstrates the different time of usage, there are mammouth, auryx and reindeer. And then of course there are the hand prints, made by blowing the red or black pigment over the hand. Most do not have complete sets of fingers, and most are left hands, however all have a complete thumb. Why missing fingers ? Surely the hunters of the time would not have cut them off, as it would have been far too much of a handicap. Could it have been disease ? If so, then why no missing thumbs ? The latest thoughts as to this mystery is that the fingers may well have been simply bent back before making the silhouettes. In which case, is it a sign language ? What does it all mean ? Near to the end of the visit to the cave, is the "Great Wall of Hands". Not all of the hands are of adults, and there are hands from children too, some of which must have been quite young. The prints on this wall have been dated to 27,000 years ago. It is incredible to look at these hands of man from all that time ago. Near to the current exit to the cave, there are current excavations going on, the first since 1911, and they are hoping that with modern techniques, that more can be learned about the men that lived here.

Grottes et abris préhistoriques de la vallée de la Save

Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 5th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: In the gorges of the river Save, just below the village of Lespugue, can be found many caves and shelters which have yielded ancient remains of habitation from up to 30,000 years ago. Below the Chateau de Lespugue, but very difficult to get to due to the steep sides of the gorge and all the undergrowth is the Grotte de Rideaux (not far from the place where there is a rock in the middle of the road) within which was found the Venus de Lespugue figurine. Some of the many other Abris and caves are easily visited, being right by the roadside. This is a fascinating place, and amazing to think about all its long history. Well worth a look.

Grotte des Rideaux

Trip No.205  Entry No.44  Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 5th Sep 2005. My rating: Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: In the gorges of the river Save, just below the village of Lespugue, can be found many caves and shelters which have yielded ancient remains of habitation from up to 30,000 years ago. Below the Chateau de Lespugue, but very difficult to get to due to the steep sides of the gorge and all the undergrowth is the Grotte de Rideaux (not far from the place where there is a rock in the middle of the road) within which was found the Venus de Lespugue figurine.

Musée de Lespugue

Trip No.205  Entry No.43  Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 5th Sep 2005. My rating: Access 5

Log Text: In the central square of the little village of Lespugue is a museum, which, as many European museums are, is closed on a Monday. This museum has an exhibition of 35,000 years of Lespugue. Outside the museum in a little grassy park is a 10 times lifesize copy of the Venus de Lespugue, a pregnant woman figure dated to 33,000BC, carved from a mammouth tusk which was found in a cave just below the village.

Musée de Préhistoire (Aurignac)

Trip No.205  Entry No.42  Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 5th Sep 2005

Log Text: In the centre of Aurignac village is the prehistory museum, with all sorts of finds and items found in the local caves. It is situated underneath a little village square with parking available. However, when I visited, it was closed, with a notice stating that it had been closed in May 2004 by the Mairie, for an indefinite period. I have no idea why.

Grotte d'Aurignac

Trip No.205  Entry No.41  Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 5th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Just to the north of the village of Aurignac can be found this important prehistoric shelter, where in 1852 a man was out hunting rabbit with his dog, and the dog found a bone down a hole. Upon the news of this discovery, the locals started investigating and found remains of 27 skeletons, which were removed and reburied in the local cemetery. In the 1860's, scientific excavations were done here, which found that the site had been occupied 30,000 years ago. Many tools, bones etc were found, and the site has given its name to a whole civilisation, the Aurignacian, which dates to between 30,000 and 25,000 years BC.

Today, beside the D.635 road to the northwest of Aurignac village, there is a layby and picnic area, with a large noticeboard explaining about the site. About 50 metres from the noticeboard, down a little track, and there is a small stream with a little bridge made from a large stone slab. Over the millennia, this stream has cut itself into a little cliff face, about 50 metres long by up to 10 metres high. In this cliff face is a large opening which is the first shelter excavated in 1862. There are also a few other smaller openings which have been excavated since, within which more finds were taken from. This is a nice and atmospheric little place. Pity about the rain !

La Roque-Saint-Christophe

Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 1978

Log Text: Hitch Hiking Trip round France in the summer of 1978. Camped for a couple of days at Les Eyzies to visit and wonder at the ancient sites here.

Font-de-Gaume

Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 1978

Log Text: Hitch Hiking Trip round France in the summer of 1978. Camped for a couple of days at Les Eyzies to visit and wonder at the ancient sites here.

Musée National de Préhistoire

Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 1978

Log Text: Hitch Hiking Trip round France in the summer of 1978. Camped for a couple of days at Les Eyzies to visit and wonder at the ancient sites here.

Abri de Cro-Magnon

Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 17th Sep 1978

Log Text: Hitch Hiking Trip round France in the summer of 1978. Camped for a couple of days at Les Eyzies to visit and wonder at the ancient sites here.

Menhir Ste Carissime

Trip No.205  Entry No.40  Date Added: 19th Oct 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 2nd Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Along the D.1 road between Le Verdier and Cahuzac-sur-Vère, and this menhir can be seen across the far side of the river, which is beyond a ploughed field to the south. At this time in the evening, the menhir was glowing a golden colour in the rays of the setting sun. I struggled across the ploughed field to get a close look from across the river, and estimate it to be about 2 metres tall and 1 metre wide, nicely positioned at a bend in the river below vine covered hillsides. After returning to my van and driving off, about half a mile further east along the road I saw a sign to "menhir" which would have taken you along a footpath and across a bridge to approach the menhir. Oh well.

Dolmen de Saillac

Trip No.205  Entry No.37  Date Added: 19th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Tarn-et-Garonne (82))
Visited: Yes on 2nd Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a bizarrely Christianised dolmen which can be found in the forests to the south of the village of Caylus. From Caylus follow the signs to St-Amans-le-Vieux ancient church, and park in the vicinity of this, from where you take the GR46 Footpath the opposite way from the road towards the southwest for about 500 metres, and the remains of the dolmen can be seen on the left.

This dolmen has been much altered, and at first I had difficulty recognising it, but it is right beside the path with the wall built right through it. On top of the remains of the capstone has been built a stone plinth, with an ornate iron cross protruding from this, the top of which is about 3 metres above the ground. The dolmen is still partially contained within its circular mound, and the remains of two sidestones and a backstone can be seen, with the small capstone balanced on these and a few other bits of stone to make it level.

Dolmen du Pech (Cazals)

Trip No.205  Entry No.36  Date Added: 19th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Tarn-et-Garonne (82))
Visited: Yes on 2nd Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Despite not being marked on any ign maps I have seen, this box tomb dolmen is easily found as it is right beside the D.75B between Bourdoncle and Doumerc by the road to Frau. Subject of an excavation in 1989, and reconstruction in 1992, it is now fenced in, presumably for protection, but it looks terribly ugly because of that.

The chamber seems to be of a double type, open to the east, with a large first chamber 4.5 metres by 2.5 metres between two large side slabs, followed by the smaller chamber between side slabs one metre apart. A single large capstone covers the back chamber and a part of the first, and there is a secondary loose stone structure on the top, covering the capstone. The front of the chamber is walled off from the outside. The odd thing about this dolmen is the rectangular mound it is contained within, which has been subject to a perhaps over-enthusiastic reconstruction. There are other rectangular tombs like this, especially in this locality, but somehow this seems too regular and uniform. The dimensions of the stone mound are about 10 metres wide by 25 metres long. The back, western, end is curved and not squared. The whole thing is most odd.

While reversing to try and park the van here, I completely missed seeing a roadsign and flattened the thing completely - luckily it was only loosely held in the ground and did no damage, and was easy to stand up again !

Tombe du Géant (Septfonds)

Trip No.205  Entry No.35  Date Added: 19th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Tarn-et-Garonne (82))
Visited: Yes on 2nd Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: The Tombe du Géant is a scheduled historic monument, and as such it is marked on the local maps, both 1:25,000 and 1:100,000, near to the farm of Les Tombes to the southeast of Septfonds. It is however not so easy to find in the real world, with the fields and indeed many of the trackways in this area having recently been thoroughly fenced off, with both barbed wire and electric fences, and new hedges planted. At first, I could find no way through to this dolmen, and as it is in a bit of woodland, there was no way I could see anything from nearby either. Before giving up totally, I thought I would try an approach from a different angle, and indeed, there is a new trackway made, which takes one around the newly fenced off land. It is complex to describe, but starting from a point well to the south of where the dolmen is marked, take the signed PR.1 footpath firstly to the east for a couple of hundred metres, and then having passed the end of the first field and passed into some woods, turn left to the north and follow the trackway for about 500 metres where you will then find the Tombe du Géant in the woodland to the left of the path.

The dolmen is a nice one, still partially within its mound. The chamber is made with two long side slabs, each 5 metres in length, and with a nicely shaped and fitted backstone between them. The capstone has broken, and only half of it now remains. The chamber is 4.5 metres long by 1.5 metres wide internally, and as usual faces to the east. This would be a very pleasant spot, but for all the flies buzzing around and the humming and crackling power lines passing almost directly overhead. There are probably several other dolmens to be found in the locality, judging by certain names on the maps.

Dolmen de Caux-Vieilles

Trip No.205  Entry No.32  Date Added: 19th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Tarn-et-Garonne (82))
Visited: Yes on 2nd Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: A bit to the south of the track running along the southern edge of the airfield, in the scrubland, are several mounds of stones. One of these mounds has a clear dolmen chamber within it, 3 metres in length by 1.5 metres in width. It consists of two side slabs and a backstone between them, but no capstone. The northern half of the mound still exists right up to the top of the side support, while the southern part is mostly missing. This chamber is very difficult to photograph with all the trees and bushes around it. I am lead to believe that there are many dolmens to be found within these woodlands, far more than the three that I found.

Finelle Dolmen

Trip No.205  Entry No.31  Date Added: 19th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Tarn-et-Garonne (82))
Visited: Yes on 2nd Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: A bit to the west of the first dolmen, along the track running along the southern edge of the airfield, and you soon come to another dolmen. This one has lost its mound, which has no doubt been used to build the local walls, and it is standing proud at the edge of a flat area used for dumping rubble etc. Its a fairly standard southern French dolmen, with two 4 metre long sideslabs and a backstone between them, topped with a capstone, making a chamber 3 metres by 2 metres. There is some evidence of a front closing stone, and the chamber faces eastwards on a bearing of 095°.

Dolmen de Peyrelevade (Septfonds)

Trip No.205  Entry No.30  Date Added: 19th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Tarn-et-Garonne (82))
Visited: Yes on 2nd Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: To the west of the village of Septfonds, and to the south of the little airfield are several dolmens in the woodlands. There are signposts to "dolmens" and down a little track is a parking place and more signs. Right beside this track is the first dolmen you come to. It is still mostly within its mound of loose stone, and quite a large one. The 5 metres by 4 metres capstone sits on top of a chamber 4 metres in length, by 2 metres wide, made with the usual 2 large sideslabs and a back stone, but these stones are completely below ground level. The chamber opens to the east, on a bearing of about 080°. To the west of the main dolmen are a couple of other long side set slabs near to the roadside, where the mound has been cut away. Perhaps this is the remains of a secondary burial chamber ? The mound diameter is about 15 metres. There are lots of strange red topped mushrooms / toadstools poking up through the ground here. Very interesting.

Dolmen de Cieurac

Trip No.205  Entry No.29  Date Added: 19th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Lot (46))
Visited: Couldn't find on 1st Sep 2005

Log Text: Just over the Dordogne river from the town of Souillac should be found this dolmen. There are no signposts to it, and its not on any of my maps, but it is mentioned in a book I have, and is supposedly to be found at a corner of the road in the woods at the top of the hill. However, the woods are very thick and dense, and the hillside very steep, so without any better information, there is no way I am going to find this one.