Village troglodytique et abri de la Madeleine

Tursac

A site of major importance for world prehistory: it is this rock shelter, excavated from 1863 by Édouard Lartet and Henry Christy, that gave its name to an entire period of the Upper Palaeolithic, the Magdalenian (roughly 17,000 to 12,000 years ago). Among the some 500 pieces of portable art unearthed here and now scattered across around fifty museums worldwide is the famous carving of a bison licking an insect bite, engraved on reindeer antler. The site's story did not end with prehistory: a small castle, the Petit Marzac, was established here in the Middle Ages (dating disputed, between the 11th and the 14th century), leading to the gradual growth of the troglodyte village carved into the cliff, fortified during the Hundred Years' War and then completed in the 15th century with a Gothic castle and a chapel. Continuously inhabited until the late 19th century, it is now UNESCO-listed as one of the prehistoric sites of the Vézère valley, alongside Lascaux and Font-de-Gaume. A few hundred metres away stands the shrine of Notre-Dame-de-Fontpeyrine and its legendary spring, already featured in the app.

Getting there : Paid entry

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound