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Origin and history

The Cro-Magnon shelter is a major prehistoric site of the Upper Paleolithic, discovered in 1868 during road works near the Eyzies-de-Tayac, Dordogne. The workers exhumed human bones, flints and trimmings, revealing a shelter under occupied rock about 28,000 years ago. The excavations, led by Louis Lartet, collected the remains of five individuals, including an adult buried with tools and shells.

The bones, sent to the National Museum of Natural History, were attributed to the gravetian culture. However, some of the discoveries were lost or dispersed, making it difficult to locate the graves accurately. The site, emptied after the excavations, remained abandoned until its classification in 1957 and its inscription in the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, among the caves adorned by the Vézère valley.

In 2011, the site was acquired by Jean-Max Touron, who set it up for a public opening in 2014. After a sale in 2023, the French state bought the shelter of Cro-Magnon in November 2024, ensuring its preservation. This emblematic place, linked to the discovery of the Man of Cro-Magnon, illustrates the archaeological richness of the Dordogne and its importance for the understanding of Prehistory.

Recent dating confirms that burials date back about 28,000 years, during the Gravettien. The flint tools and trimming elements found attest to the cultural and funerary practices of the people of that time. Despite the absence of in situ remains, the site retains a major symbolic value for archaeology and world heritage.

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