The Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in France. It was added to the list in 1979. The site includes 15 prehistoric locations in the Vézère Valley, located in the Dordogne department. Most of these sites are near Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, a town known as the "Capital of Prehistory." This valley has many prehistoric sites, with more than 150 known locations, including 25 decorated caves. These sites have been important for studying the Paleolithic era and its art.

Three of the sites are named after prehistoric periods. The Micoquien period is named after La Micoque, the Mousterian period after Le Moustier, and the Magdalenian period after Abri de la Madeleine. The Cro-Magnon rock shelter is where the term "Cro-Magnon" comes from, which is the name given to early modern humans in Europe. Many of these sites were first discovered and studied by archaeologists Henri Breuil and Denis Peyrony in the early 1900s. Lascaux, which has some of the most remarkable rock art, was discovered in 1940.

The decorated caves in the region helped end a debate about whether prehistoric art was real or fake. In the late 1800s, discoveries like the Chabot cave (1879), the Cave of Altamira (1880), and Pair-non-Pair (1881) were widely discussed. However, no clear proof of their ancient origins was accepted. The first decorated cave in the Vézère Valley was La Mouthe. The debate was finally settled in 1901 with discoveries at Font-de-Gaume and Les Combarelles.

The region’s importance as a center for Paleolithic art and activity is described in the Larousse Encyclopedia of Prehistoric & Ancient Art. The book also lists seven masterpieces of prehistoric art, including Lascaux, Les Combarelles, and Font de Gaume.

Twelve of the 15 sites are open to visitors, but only a limited number of people are allowed each day (usually fewer than 100). Two sites, La Mouthe and La Madeleine, are not open to the public. The original Lascaux cave is closed, but nearby 3D reproductions of the cave are available for visitors.

Sites included in the UNESCO listing

Abri du Poisson is a small cave located in the Gorge d'Enfer, a side valley of the Vézère River near Les Eyzies. It was discovered in 1892, but the engraving of a fish, which is over 1 meter long and gives the site its name, was found in 1912. This engraving dates to the middle Gravettian period, about 25,000 years ago, and is one of the oldest known fish depictions in the world. The cave is surrounded by other caves and shelters.

Font-de-Gaume, located in Les Eyzies, was discovered in 1901. It is famous for being the first place in the region where prehistoric paintings were found. The paintings, mostly of animals like bison and horses (more than 200 total), date to the Magdalenian period and are about 17,000 years old. Font-de-Gaume is the only cave with multi-colored prehistoric paintings that remains open to the public.

La Mouthe, also in Les Eyzies, was discovered in 1894. It contains engravings and paintings. Other items found here include a decorated lamp, a human tooth, and a backbone. However, the cave is not open to the public.

Les Combarelles, in Les Eyzies, is a long but narrow cave (300 meters long and 1 meter wide) with over 600 prehistoric engravings and monochrome paintings. The entrance and a branch on the right side were known and excavated earlier, but the main branch was discovered in 1901, just days before nearby Font-de-Gaume. The cave was inhabited between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago.

Lascaux, located in Montignac, was discovered in 1940. It contains about 600 multi-colored paintings from around 17,000 years ago. The cave was opened to the public in 1948 but closed in 1963 because the paintings were being damaged by fungus and lichen caused by visitor activity. Exact copies of the paintings are available for viewing since 1983 (Lascaux II) and 2016 (Lascaux IV).

Rouffignac Cave, in Rouffignac, is part of the longest cave system in the area. It has hundreds of engravings and monochrome paintings, mostly of mammoths, located about 2 kilometers from the entrance. An electric train transports visitors to the art. The cave was known as a tourist attraction in the 19th century, but the art was not discovered until 1956. The artworks are believed to be about 13,000 years old.

Roc de Saint-Cirq, often called "Grotte du Sorcier," is in Les Eyzies and was discovered in 1952. It contains engravings and carved reliefs, including one of a human known as "the sorcerer."

Le Grand Roc is a cave near Les Eyzies and close to Laugerie-Basse. It was discovered in 1924 and opened to the public in 1926. Unlike other sites in the area, it does not have prehistoric art or artifacts.

Cro-Magnon rock shelter, in Les Eyzies, dates to the Aurignacian period. It was discovered in 1868, and the remains of five humans (four adults and a child) were found, dated to about 28,000 years ago. These remains were among the first evidence of modern humans in Europe, leading to the term "Cro-Magnon" being used to describe prehistoric modern humans.

La Micoque, in Les Eyzies, is the namesake of the Micoquien period and the first place where the Tayacian industry was identified as distinct. It was discovered in 1895 and has been the site of many excavations. La Micoque contains some of the oldest human traces in the region, dating back about 450,000 years. Layers of soil and artifacts indicate human habitation over 300,000 years.

Laugerie-Basse is a 15-meter-deep shelter in Les Eyzies with art from the Magdalenian period, dating to about 14,000 years ago. Excavations began in 1863, but more scientific studies started in 1912. The nearby Abri de Marseille still has original materials. In 1864, the Vénus impudique, one of the first Paleolithic Venus figurines, was discovered here.

Laugerie-Haute, in Les Eyzies, is a 200-meter-long shelter near Laugerie-Basse. It was inhabited from about 24,000 to 15,000 years ago and was first excavated in 1863. It stretches from the rock face to the river and is one of the largest sites in the region.

Cap Blanc rock shelter, in Marquay, was discovered in 1908. It is 15 meters long and has a 13-meter-long relief frieze of animals, including 10 horses and some bison. The frieze was originally painted with red ochre and other colors but is now mostly uncolored due to excavation errors. A human skeleton, known as the "Magdalenian Girl," was found on the floor in 1911.

Le Moustier is a group of two rock shelters in Peyzac-le-Moustier. Excavations began in 1863, and tools found here helped define the Mousterian period, which lasted from about 160,000 to 40,000 years ago. In 1908, a Neanderthal skull was discovered, dated to about 45,000 years ago.

Abri de la Madeleine, in Tursac, is the type site for the Magdalenian period, dating from about 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It was first discovered in 1863 and studied more scientifically in 1921–1922 by Dennis Peyrony. A child’s remains, buried with a robe decorated with over 1,000 shells, were found here. Sculpted reindeer bone spear-throwers, including the Bison Licking Insect Bite, were also discovered. Medieval ruins remain nearby.

History of archaeological research in the region

The sites span nearly 400,000 years of human life, beginning at La Micoque, which was inhabited from about 400,000 years ago until 100,000 years ago, and ending around 8,000 years ago. Excavations in the Dordogne region began in 1810, but the first scientific studies were conducted in 1863 by paleontologist Edouard Lartet and Englishman Henry Christy. Over five months, they visited many sites in Les Eyzies, including Grotte Richard, shelters in the Gorge d'Enfer, Laugerie Basse, Laugerie Haute, La Madeleine, and Le Moustier. In 1872, the sites Laugerie Basse and La Madeleine were named after the Magdalenian and Micoquian cultures by Gabriel de Mortillet. Earlier, Lartet had excavated the Cave of Aurignac, which gave its name to the Aurignacian culture, and published findings of some of the earliest decorated objects from the Upper Paleolithic period.

In 1864, an engraving of a mammoth on ivory was discovered at La Madeleine. This was the first clear proof that people living in these rock shelters coexisted with long-extinct animals. In 1868, human remains from the Cro-Magnon rock shelter were found, and in 1872, a prehistoric skeleton was discovered at Laugerie Basse. The first decorated cave in the region, La Mouthe, was found in 1896. It was the fourth decorated cave found in Europe, about 20 years after the first three.

At the start of the 20th century, excavations in the Vézère valley increased, leading to two major outcomes: the authenticity of rock art was confirmed, and a complete timeline of prehistoric technological cultures in Western Europe was created. In 1895, Émile Rivière, an archaeologist, recognized the cave of La Mouthe as a Paleolithic site in France. Engravings were found about 90 meters from the cave’s entrance. Rivière studied the site for five years, uncovering many artifacts, including a lamp with an image of an ibex. He concluded that some engravings were covered by stalagmites, proving their great age. This helped confirm the reality of prehistoric rock art. He also took the first photographs of such art.

Important discoveries for rock art included the engravings at Combarelles in 1901 by Henri Breuil, Denis Peyrony, and Louis Capitan, and the first view of polychrome paintings at Font de Gaume, found eight days later by Peyrony. In 1902, Émile Cartailhac, who had doubted that Paleolithic humans could create such art, changed his mind after seeing reports about the caves and La Mouthe. He published an article in "L'Anthropologie" titled "Les cavernes ornées de dessins. La grotte d'Altamira, Espagne. Mea culpa d'un sceptique."

Breuil and Peyrony led many major finds in the following years, including Bernifal in 1902, the abri du Cap Blanc in 1909, and Laussel in 1911. During this time, sites that helped develop the timeline of prehistoric periods and cultures were also found, such as La Ferrassie in 1909, which had many Neanderthal burials, and Laugerie Basse. Peyrony, a teacher from Les Eyzies, became the inspector of archaeological sites in 1910 and established the museum of Les Eyzies (later the National Museum of Prehistory) in 1913. The most recent major discovery was the cave of Lascaux in 1940.

Other prehistoric sites in the region

• Muzardie Cave was discovered in 1978. It contains ancient carvings from the Paleolithic period.
• Roc de Marsal was first excavated in 1953. It is a burial site for a Neanderthal child, found in 1961.

• Bara-Bahau Cave was discovered in 1951. It has about 18 carvings, mostly of animals, as well as a hand and a phallus. The cave is open to the public.

• Abri Pataud is a site with prehistoric homes in Les Eyzies. Its clear soil layers have been used for radiocarbon dating,

Prehistory museums and visitor centres

Some of these sites have small museums or displays that show artifacts found by archaeologists. For example, Castel Merle has such a display. The area also has three main visitor centers. These include the National Museum of Prehistory, located in and around the Château de Tayac, the International Pole of Prehistory in les Eyzies, and Lascaux IV in Montignac.