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Archaeological history at Les Eyzies
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The History of the National Prehistory Museum
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The work of Denis Peyrony (1869-1954)
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| To say how long cliff dwellings have existed at Les Eyzies may be an obvious statement to make, but it is nevertheless necessary. The privileged position of its upper cliff terrace, overlooking a vast hunting ground and a main passing through place for reindeer, was, without a doubt, the first reason that Magdalenians chose this exact spot 12,000 years ago.Traces of their settlings can still be seen, lodged between the the castle?s two main buildings, where excavations were carried out at the beginning of the XXth century. But what happened in between these two eras? After a medieval intermediate period, of which little is known, even today,(the numerous scars in the rock:- sockets for posts and beams,chanelling for water and man-made cavities probably date from this period),the history of Les Eyzies? castle needs to be traced. Contrary to assertions in local litterature, this solid structure was built relatively recently and the private family history of the Lords of Beynac involved in its origin. The castle was mentioned for the first time in 1585, in Jeanne de Campnac?s act of donation to her youngest son Jean-Guy de Beynac. Several years before, on 11th December 1578, Jean-Guy was given the right to build a fortified house wherever it suited him. We owe Les Eyzies? castle, therefore, to this highly colourful character who appears to have come from a swashbuckling novel..He was part of a league and compromised during the Duke of Bouillon?s conspiracy, condemned to death, then pardonned by Henry the IVth. Jean-Guy had certainly measured the srategic position of Les Eyzies, both well sheltered and exposed , at the confluent of the Beune and the Vézère, which were almost obligatory communication routes in this region of thick forests. A quarter of a century after it was built, the castle was very nearly razed to the ground by decision of the private Council in March 1606 ,but Turenne intervened and had the threat suspended. After Jean-Guy?s death, around 1615, his heirs only modified the building very slightly and the family was not to be spared by the fate of arms, for 3 of their sons died on Louis X1Vth battle fields. In 1748, the castle and grounds fell, by marriage, to Elisabeth de la Borie de Campagne who lived there until she died. Her grandson, Géraud wanted to renovate the building, but the Revolution put an end to that and he was forced to emigrate.By a tragic irony of fate,François Lassudrie bought the castle in the year X1.....and turned it into a stone quarry! This is when dismantling began- to be carried on by his heirs, till ,in the year 1846, the Esclafer family saved it through their purchase. It was high time too, all that was left of the ruins were a few cyclopean walls some mullion ribs and the base of a watchtower. Inside, two vaulted rooms and two monumental fire places had managed to escape damage. At the turn of the XXth century, the future of the castle became that of the archeology museum, but there lies another story......
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The archeological history of Les Eyzies began officially in 1863 when Lartet and Christy excavated the cave at Les Eyzies (or Richard?s cave). After only a few months, several sites were discovered and excavated as they searched for proof of antidiluvean man?s existence.The sites of Gorge d?Enfer, Laugerie Haute, Le Moustier and la Madeleine were thus revealed to the scientific world. Following these discoveries and their publication of The Reliquiae Aquitanicae in 1875, fortuitious finds and organised excavations became more and more numerous, (Cro-Magnon, Laugerie Basse etc), all attracting both collectors of fine objects and the first real prehistorians, such as E. Rivière, E.Cartailhac and L.Capitan. In 1891,Denis Peyrony, a true Périgourdin,born at Cussac in Dordogne 20 years earlier, was appointed school master at Les Eyzies. When he met Dr Capitan, 15 years his senior, in 1894, he was literally inoculated with the prehistory virus. Their first research and discoveries together were to multiply at a dizzy rate. With the young abbot Breuil, they discovered the caves at Combarelles and Font de Gaume on the 8th and 12th September 1901. These were the most famous of their discoveries and perhaps overshadowed many others,for in the field of cave art we owe him the discovery of Teyjat, Bernifal, La Calévie etc . This remarkable man of the work field never tired, and it would be almost impossible to give details of his excavations. It is simpler to say that they also yielded prestigious monographs and around 200 articles and scientific works.His chronology of the Mousterian and the Upper Paleolithic are still widely used as references today. He and Capitan assembled an exceptional collection of prehistoric objects in less than 10 years and it was to become the base collection of the National Prehistory Museum and also contributed largely to the greatest French institutes such as the Museum of National Antiquities. We owe Denis Peyrony the merit, too, of being the first person to be concerned about the preservation of Périgord?s archeological heritage. It was high time time to be putting a stop to the pilfering of sites, which, in the absence of all legislation, were left to the prowl of amateur antique dealers , to barely scrupulous scientists or even to internatoinally based racketeers like the Swiss German, Otto Hauser. The latter had forged himself a reputation for his plundering in the area since 1908:- the scandal of the Laussel sculpture,the skeletons of Le Moustier and Combe Capelle, acquired by the Berlin Museum and the aborted one at the Poisson shelter,(when the ?antique dealer? was expelled), just to name a few. In a highly patriotic atmosphere and from 1913 onwards, the history of the Museum at Les Eyzies became inseparable from that of its promoter, Denis Peyrony. He had the state buy the ruined castle at this date, and installed a storage for excavations plus a proper museum there. By a stroke of good fortune the forerunner of modern archeology was to encounter this fine building, itself set on a Magdalenean site. The symbolic meeting has been underlined many a time. Reconstruction of the building began in August 1914 but four out of the five labourers were mobilised in the first world- wide conflicts. However, in 1918, three rooms were already accessible to the public and the official opening was in 1923. The Minister of Beaux Arts, Paul Léon, opened the room on the 3rd floor and unveiled Darde?s statue of primitive man, in 1931, with great pomp and ceremony. D.Peyrony, already appointed responsible for the mission of the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1910,was to hold concurrently, the position of Museum Curator in 1928 and Inspector of Historical Monuments in 1929. He thus ensured the supervision, the management and the protection of the regions? most important sites. It was he too who was responsible for the creation of Les Eyzies? Tourist Information Office. His career had begun in general education and he doubtless was extremely sensitive in this field too. The Information Office was offering tours to a dozen important prehistoric sites as early as in 1920. Denis Peyrony, pioneer in scientific archeological research had infact just put this modest village (future World Capital of Prehistory ),on to the road to cultural tourism , a road it would no longer leave. | ||
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