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Small houses below the ridge of the steep mountain cliff.
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The "Abri de Laugerie Basse", today it consists of a number of inhabited terraced houses under the overhanging rock face. It's also an important Upper Paleolithic archaeological site known for several works of art from the Magdalenian era. This shelter was inhabited by prehistoric man from about 14,000 BC in the Middle Magdalenian era.
Excavations of the site revealed about 600 art objects from the Magdalenian era. Among that the first Paleolithic sculptural representation of a woman discovered in modern times named "Immodest Venus" (French: Vénus impudique) which gave its name to the genre of paleolithic Venus figurines.
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Photo - Richard Poppelaars.
© About Pixels Photography: #AboutPixels / #GrotteduGrandRoc #UNESCO #LesEyzies #FR at #AbrisdeLaugerieBasse #Magdalenianculture #LesAbrisdeLaugerieBasse in #LesEyzies #France
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Les Abris de Laugerie Basse
The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian) are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the site of La Madeleine, one of the many prehistoric sites and decorated caves in the Vézère Valley.
Info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalenian.
Published at - Flickr - Google Photos and Maps
Small houses at Grotte du Grand Roc. Just like eages ago they still build and live below the ridge of the steep mountain wall - Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil/FR
It's a bit of a long story, but like all the best ones, it has a twist at the end. But it's completely true.
It was back in 2007 that my wife and I drove down into France for a wonderful two week summer holiday. Crossing to Brittany we headed to picturesque Amboise in the Loire valley and then down to Sarlat-la-Caneda in the Dordogne region for a few days. Later we pushed to the very south, following my wife’s dreams to see the walled city of Carcassonne which had featured so vividly in my wife’s mind as she read Kate Mosse’s book, Labyrinth. We completed the circuit returning to Britain via the Cognac region with a stay in a fabulous big coach house before getting back to the Channel ferry. We had had a great time enjoying the gorgeous weather and taking in the sights as we toured around the country. It was the perfect holiday.
In planning the trip I had picked out a few places we wanted to visit and see, picturesque villages and towns, chateaus, castles, rivers, valleys and historic sites. And I planned the route to take us past the Troglodyte dwellings nestled under the cliff by Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. When we got there I think we were short on time and all I managed was to pull up in the car park opposite, cross the road and take this shot of some newer dwellings under the cliff, and get back in the car. It just happens that that picture, the one you see above, was one of the first I posted on flickr, a part of my back catalogue I uploaded when I joined the website a couple of months later in September 2007.
And there this picture stayed until one day in 2009 a flickr user I had never heard of called Sebastian "Basse" Lindström left the following comment "OMG How can one sleep at night living there? : )"
Well, I did as you do sometimes and I clicked on his pictures and quickly spotted one he had taken of his wife on the amazing beach at Anse Source D'Argent, La Digue, in the Seychelles Islands. They had been there recently....and we were planning to go there soon, ourselves. It sparked off a bit of conversation and banter and suddenly England and Finland connected with regular reciprocating flickr comments and flickrmails.
My wife and I did go to the Seychelles spending most of our time on the paradise island of La Digue. While I got badly bitten by sand flies my wife found it too hot. Unknown to us she had developed a serious heart condition, which was only treated once diagnosed on our return. But through all this time the banter between England (me) and Finland (Basse) continued on the back of regular flickr activity and commenting.
Eventually, Sebastian, "Basse" as we came to know him, flew over to the UK with his family to visit his relatives living temporarily in Cambridge and I took the opportunity to drive down to meet them and have a photo outing to nearby Duxford Museum. (By the way, before I go further please ask yourself this, how many other people do you know called Basse? It's not a common name as far as I'm aware anyway. Agreed?) We seemed to have been friends since the first words were exchanged in our first flickr comments but the friendship extended to my wife when we decided to go to Finland for our next summer holiday. The long flights to the Indian Ocean and tropical heat had nearly finished my wife off, so in discussing our next holiday we found ourselves considering the Nordic countries which are closer and cool, you know, where they have snow and Santa Claus lives and it is cold and snowy. Well, the welcome we got wasn't just warm. Finland was hotter in mid-summer than the Seychelles. And that was one of the first big things we learnt about this clean, friendly and polite country. It's a beautiful place more people should go to. And of course we have to recommend the seaside town of Hanko, Pearl of the Baltic, their hometown!
And that was the start. We went to Finland on holiday. They came to England on holiday. We went back to Finland. Then we holidayed together in Scotland. We went back to Finland. We holidayed together in Wales. The rest, as they say, is history. We have holidayed together ever since first meeting. Now they know four generations of our family. We know four generations of Basse's family. We are all the greatest of friends: all thanks to flickr and that picture of the houses under the cliff in France!
But there is one final connection......no, it's an amazing coincidence. And I discovered it only last night as I supped from a healthy portion of Talisker Dark Storm single malt scotch whisky, with some Trance music belting out.
I was thinking to myself, where can we holiday together with Basse's family in 2016? I thought of this picture, and the great holiday my wife and I had in France. Perhaps we should all go to France. And the thought struck me, if we all went to France, we should make sure we go and see these houses together and Basse and I could have a beer or two in that Restaurant Bar under the cliff to celebrate its part in starting our friendship, although we had never actually met there. I couldn't make out the name of the place, the last building in the shot, being just too far away to see clearly. So I decided to get on Google Earth and see if I could find this little row of houses on the satellite view. I found the village Les Eyzies-de-Tayac easily enough but locating the houses under the cliff on satellite view was more difficult. But I remembered the sun shone in under the cliff and that the cliff was on my left as we came out of the village. Switching to Street View got me down to ground level and it took seconds for me to advance along the road to the point where I had parked opposite the little road that went up to the houses. I swung Street View round to point up to the houses and immediately spotted the large sign. That's it! Yes, it said, "Grotte du Grand Roc" (Cave of the big rock). The next word was "Laugerie". That doesn't mean much to me but I now discover it is the main name for the exact place where the Grotte du Grand Roc is.
But it was the last word on the sign that left me staggered. There it is, "Basse !!!!!"
What chance was there that Basse and I would meet each other through an anonymous picture on flickr that, completely unknown to either of us had "Basse" in the name??
And here it is on Street View if you follow this link. www.google.com/maps/@44.9497817,0.9986164,3a,75y,249.41h,... There's no trickery. You can check the name on Wikipedia, Tripadvisor, French Tourism
Basse. It's not a common name. What a coincidence! It must have been fate!
And here's the link to that restaurant bar where we will have a beer! www.laugerie-basse.com/
.................and so in July 2016 eventually we did meet there, the place that connected us in the first place. Me and my brother....from another mother!
Découverte les 29 avril 1924, la Grotte du Grand Roc, située à l'entrée des Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, n'a pas été occupée lors de la préhistoire mais est une cavité naturelle, creusée par l'eau dans les calcaires du Coniacien-Santonien (Crétacé supérieur), particulièrement riche en spéléothèmes (concrétions de calcite telles que stalactites, stalagmites, excentriques*, fistules, gours...). C'est la seule grotte à concrétions inscrite au Patrimoine de l’Humanité par l'UNESCO.
*On connait tous comment se forment les stalactites et stalagmites. Les excentriques, qui sont obliques ou carrément perpendiculaires sont plus rares. Ici elles forment comme des petits cheveux sur les stalactites, c'est très joli ! Elles se développent donc en dépit de la gravité ; la principale force qui explique leur formation est la capillarité. planet-terre.ens-lyon.fr/ressource/Img509-2015-10-12.xml
Scientific Maison de Cro Magon reconstruction - this prehistoric house was constructed by archaeologists. Just to learn about the building process. Using the same prehistoric tools, how much material, effort and time needed and how long it would stand.
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Grotte du Grand Roc - discovered in 1924 by Jean Maury, caver and prehistorian. A visit takes you into extraordinary eccentric formations that give the impression of evolving in a "mineral forest". During the tour there is a jumble of crystallizations of great diversity: stalagmites, eccentric concretions, fistulas, gours, triangles, columns, draperies, etc. Due to the presence of mineral particles in the water, different colors arise: red (iron oxide), ocher (clay), black (manganese).
It was designated a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1979, one of the prehistoric sites and decorated caves of the Vézère Valley.
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About Pixels - #GrotteduGrandRoc #UNESCO - #LesEyzies #FR
Une formation rare, dans la grotte du Grand Roc (les Eyzies de Tayac, Dordogne) : ce sont des cristaux de calcite en formation au niveau du sol, qui adoptent spontanément ces formes triangulaires.
Calcite triangle-shaped crystals in the Grand Roc Cave, Dordogne, France.
Small houses at the Grotte du Grand Roc site. Just like ages ago they still build and live below the ridge of the steep mountain cliff.
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Les Eyzies - Les Abris de Laugerie Basse - Grotte du Grand Roc
Grotte du Grand Roc - discovered in 1924 by Jean Maury, caver and prehistorian. A visit takes you into extraordinary eccentric formations that give the impression of evolving in a "mineral forest". During the tour there is a jumble of crystallizations of great diversity: stalagmites, eccentric concretions, fistulas, gours, triangles, columns, draperies, etc. Due to the presence of mineral particles in the water, different colors arise: red (iron oxide), ocher (clay), black (manganese).
It was designated a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1979, one of the prehistoric sites and decorated caves of the Vézère Valley..
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Richard Poppelaars
About Pixels Photography: #GrotteduGrandRoc #UNESCO #LesEyzies #FR
Un titre à la manière de Rameau ou de Couperin pour une image qui se voudrait baroque. Les photos que j'ai prises dans la grotte du Grand Roc (Dordogne) sont presque toutes ratées : floues, rougeâtres, sans relief, un peu "crades" pour tout dire. Celle-ci est la plus sauvable des ratées. Ce qu'on voit ici, en plus des stalactites qui descendent, des stalagmites qui montent et des colonnes qu'elles forment, ce sont des excentriques : par capillarité, les gouttes d'eau ont déposé de la calcite dans des directions chaotiques et incongrues.
The Grand Roc Cave, in the Vézère valley, Dordogne, France. Excentric calcite concretions...