The Dordogne River valley was a vortex of prehistoric activity and has an outstanding concentration of sites associated with early settlement. Europe was in the grip of a major glaciation when Neanderthal groups hunted and gathered along its banks some 100,000 years ago. Here also is found the site of Cro Magnon, which produced the first evidence of anatomically modern humans. Occupying this area between 35,000 and 10,000 years ago these groups adorned some of their caves with wonderful depictions of the animals which they hunted, feared, and probably venerated. So impressed was Pablo Picasso on leaving Lascaux that he commented 'we have invented nothing'.
North of the Pyrenees Mountains, in a key wine producing region, lies Bordeaux. Established at a fording point on the Garonne the Romans named their trading center Burdigala. The river, with the Gironde estuary, was to become a major trading route between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Under English occupation in the fourteenth century the town's prosperity was based on the exports of vast quantities of wines from it's rich hinterland. A modern city, Bordeaux still exudes an air of wealth, international contacts and a rich historical background partly reflected in the elegant eighteenth century buildings along the riverfront. The broad river flows on.
