4 BELIQTJIJE AQUITANKLE. 



The great rocky masses which border the valley of the Vezere, and those 

 enclosing the adjacent valleys, are also hollowed with numerous cavities, which 



Fig. 2. 



Limestone. 



Limestone. 



(a) Cave, with Bones, &c. (6) Recess, with Bonos, &c. 

 Diagram Profile of the Qorye d'Enfer, a lateral Valley on the right Bank of the Vezere. 



the hand of Man has often modified and enlarged. For here, as in many other 

 countries, the caves, recesses, and other irregular openings, so frequent in 

 calcareous rocks, have been without doubt utilized for temporary shelter, and 

 even for permanent residence. This habit, more general when the people of this 

 country were exposed to constant war and sudden attacks, became less usual as 

 political and social security increased. 



The Rock of Tayac, of which frequent mention is made in the history of the 

 wars between the English and French in the 14th and 15th centuries, was 

 at that time a kind of fortress entirely hollowed out of the rock, and it sustained 

 more than one siege. There still exist on the right bank of the Vezere remains 

 of this mediaeval fortress, now scarcely accessible, in one of the escarpments at 

 the foot of which we have been led to make some of our archaeological researches, 

 though of course relating to a very different period. 



At the present time, the occupation of rocks for purposes of residence, in this 

 part of .Pe"rigord, is become rarer ; and nearly everywhere where it still obtains 

 recourse is also had habitually to additions of masonry, rendering the residence 

 more healthy and more comfortable. 



The Caves and their Contents. The Authors have already had occasion* to 

 treat of several Caves and Rockshelters, situated in the united Communes 



* Eevue Archeologique, April 1864, p. 257 et seq. 



