France is one of the richest countries in Europe for prehistory: caves decorated by Palaeolithic artists, rock shelters, excavation sites, museums, standing-stone alignments and Neolithic dolmens. This selection brings together the great places to visit, from the Périgord to Morbihan, from the Pyrenees to Corsica.
The essentials are in the Dordogne, in the Vézère valley, with Lascaux, Font-de-Gaume, Les Combarelles and the National Museum of Prehistory in Les Eyzies, and in the Ardèche, with the Chauvet cave replica. The Pyrenees and Ariège have Niaux, Mas-d'Azil and Bédeilhac. Brittany and Corsica add Carnac, Locmariaquer, Barnenez and Filitosa.
Several decorated caves limit the number of visitors to protect the paintings: book in advance, and check visiting conditions before you go.
Located in the Dordogne near the village of Montignac-sur-Vézère, in the heart of the Périgord Noir, the Lascaux cave is the masterpiece of prehistoric art.
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35,000 years ago, man invented the image. Discover the oldest cave paintings and engravings in the world, through dioramas, slide shows and the new video film, a production by the three discoverers.
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The last polychrome decorated cave still open to visitors in France, in the Vézère valley.
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A long engraved gallery in the Vézère valley, with many animal figures of Prehistory.
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A village nestled at the foot of high troglodyte limestone cliffs, nicknamed the "world capital of prehistory" for the exceptional density of its Palaeolithic deposits.
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The Musée national at Les Eyzies is at the centre of the greatest concentration in the world of sites occupied and decorated by man.
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Halfway between Les Eyzies and Montignac, in one of the most beautiful landscapes of the Périgord, the enormous cliff of La Roque Saint-Christophe rises sheer above the Vézère.
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The Rouffignac cave is in the heart of the Black Périgord. This cavity was successively inhabited by cave bears and prehistoric artists.
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Overlooking the Vézère valley, in the village of Le Bugue, you will discover the surprising Bara-Bahau cave, whose dialect name comes from the expression "and badaboom!!!" The cavity is just behind the reception and its unusual entrance will not fail to astonish you.
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The Villars cave was discovered in 1953 by the Périgueux speleological club. The developed part belongs to an immense network of which 13 kilometres have been mapped to date.
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Known to prehistoric man, who performed the rites of his religion there, this cave was rediscovered 200 centuries later, in 1922.
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About 50,000 years ago the entrance porch of the Cougnac caves was occupied by Neanderthal man.
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The Niaux cave, universally known, rivals Lascaux for the high quality and excellent conservation of its cave paintings; for nearly 13,000 years the cave has consisted of several moderately concreted galleries with splendid colours.
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The Mas d'Azil cave: carved in the heart of the Plantaurel range, it offers an underground complex unique in Europe.
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The Bédeilhac cave is in the basin of Tarascon-sur-Ariège, a few kilometres from Niaux and Fontanet.
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A few kilometres from the basilica of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, the Gargas cave is famous for its walls decorated with enigmatic hand paintings.
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Facing the decorated caves of Niaux and Mas-d'Azil, this park-museum brings to life, through reconstructions and facsimiles, the art and way of life of prehistoric Pyrenean hunter-gatherers.
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Inaugurated in 1992, the new Tautavel Museum, European Centre of Prehistory, is a formidable tool for popularising the sciences related to archaeology and particularly to prehistory over the periods of the Mediterranean Quaternary.
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At the southern exit of the village, the caves occupy the east face of the Serre de Guercy.
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In this museum built at the foot of the prestigious rock of Solutré are gathered the collections of one of the richest prehistoric deposits in Europe.
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For geological, prehistoric and historical reasons, the Roche de Solutré is the high point of any visit to the Mâconnais. A walk from the car park south of the rock lets the visitor reach the summit, after a visit to the departmental museum.
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The Carnac alignments are in the commune of Carnac in the Morbihan département in Brittany.
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A megalithic site on the Gulf of Morbihan with the Grand Menhir Brisé and the Table des Marchand.
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The Barnenez cairn (Karn Barnenez in Breton) is a megalithic site in the commune of Plouezoc'h (in Brittany, France).
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A prehistoric site in Corse-du-Sud famous for its sculpted statue-menhirs, amid olive trees.
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A replica of the Cosquer cave, the decorated underwater cave of the calanques, on the edge of Marseille's Old Port.
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One of the largest dolmens in Europe, in the heart of a garden in Saumur.
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In a wooded park of 3 hectares, take part with your family in workshops and demonstrations on Prehistory.
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This museum is the work of an internationally renowned Finnish scientist: Mr Eirik Granqvist.
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With nearly 20,000 visitors a year, the Sartène Museum is the second archaeology museum in Corsica, after Aléria.
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Designed by the English architect Norman Foster, the departmental Museum of Prehistory of the Verdon Gorges, labelled Musée de France, is the largest prehistory museum in Europe.
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The museum offers a journey into the heart of human history on the Mediterranean coast over the last million years: slide shows, frescoes, collections of objects discovered at the region's archaeological sites.
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In a green setting that already existed in the time of our ancestors, we invite you to discover Prehistory. Retrace human evolution and meet Neanderthal man.
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