On 12 September 1940, a dog vanished down a hole above the Vézère valley, and the four teenagers who went after it found the way into one of the great finds in the history of art. The cave of Lascaux, near the town of Montignac, holds hundreds of paintings and engravings of horses, bulls, stags and ibex, some of them several metres long, made by Palaeolithic people around seventeen thousand years ago. The animals are drawn with astonishing confidence, in red, yellow and black pigments, and they seem to gallop across the curved walls of the chambers. It was opened to the public after the Second World War, and for fifteen years, thousands of visitors a year came to see it.
The visitors were the problem. Their breath and body heat brought carbon dioxide, humidity and algae to the cave, and the paintings began to fade, so in 1963, it was closed to the public to save them. Today the original is protected, with access limited to scientists, and visitors see exact replicas. The newest, Lascaux IV, a large facility opened in 2016 at the foot of the hill, reproduces the whole cave with precise detail and is well worth a visit.
The Vézère valley is known as the capital of prehistory, with a string of caves, rock shelters and museums around Les Eyzies, and the roads that wind through it are a treat. They run beside a clear river, under limestone cliffs and past stone villages, with gentle bends and a smooth surface. Le Cap Blanc, a rock shelter nearby, holds a frieze of carved horses that stands out in relief on the stone wall. In summer, coaches and caravans are common, so aim for an early start. Fuel is available in Montignac, a town of about three thousand people, and in Terrasson-Lavilledieu, which has more stations, to the north.
Tickets to Lascaux IV are best bought in advance, and the visit is guided in part. Spring and autumn bring cooler weather and thinner crowds, and in the evening, the stone of the valley takes on a warm glow. Sit by the river in Montignac with a coffee, and think of the first people who stood in the dark with a burning lamp, painting a bull.