The Abri du Poisson and the Abri du Cap-Blanc

Description

The sun often shines in Périgord, but it's the darkness and silence of around fifty decorated caves that have made the reputation of the banks of the Vézère and Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, the world capital of prehistory. Prehistoric artists used various techniques, with the most common being painting and engraving. Much rarer - and spectacular - is the work of rock relief, ranging from intaglio to high relief, and the Poisson and Cap-Blanc shelters are two magnificent examples. The Poisson shelter in Gorge d'Enfer is a jewel of cave art, with its engraved blocks and a life-size (1.05 m) sculpture of a salmon, the first known representation of a fish, which attests to the existence of fishing activity for at least 25,000 years. The Cap-Blanc shelter features a sculpted frieze of horses, considered one of the greatest masterpieces of monumental sculpture from the Quaternary art. The animals in these decorations are depicted with remarkable detail and sometimes surprising realism, creating an original bestiary. These representations are contextualized with numerous illustrations of selected works from other prehistoric sites.