Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Madeleine Shelter is a major archaeological site located in Tursac, Dordogne, in the valley of the Vézère. Ranked a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, it is the eponymous site of the Magdalenian, a period of the Upper Paleolithic period. The excavations, led notably by Édouard Lartet, Henry Christy and Denis Peyrony, revealed exceptional furniture art objects, including an engraved mammoth defense, confirming the coexistence of Man and missing species.

In 1864, the discovery of five fragments of an engraved mammoth defense marked a scientific turning point, validating the theories of Jacques Boucher de Perthes on the contemporaneity of Man and the animals of the antediluvian. This site also delivered a child's burial date of approximately 10 190 years BP, accompanied by a rich shell trimming, although this dating corresponds rather to the Azilian, funeral furniture remains anchored in the Magdalenian tradition.

The site was also occupied in the Middle Ages, with a troglodytic village that remains a semi-excavated church in the rock and ruins of Petit Marzac Castle. The latter, built between the 11th and 14th centuries, belonged to the Counts of Sireuil and then to the Beynac family before being abandoned after a fire in 1660. A seigneurial chapel dedicated to Sainte Marie-Madeleine, composed of a Romanesque part (XI century) and a Gothic part (XII century), also bears witness to this medieval occupation.

The Madeleine Shelter was listed as a Historic Monument in 1956. Today, the site preserves a common 12th century oven, still used for making bread according to medieval techniques. In 2023, some scenes from the Fortune series of France were shot, highlighting its cultural and historical appeal.

External links