Humans have lived in this area since the Paleoliticum. The Stone Age has been able to fully develop here. Over 200 prehistorical archeological sites have been discovered in this region, of which half lie in the valley of the Vézère, near Les Eyzies.

The Paleoliticum or Stone Age is counted as the first of the prehistorical ages. The first humanoids came to live here about 2,5 million years ago. The Stone Age ended around 8000 before Christ. The evolution of man was very slow at the time and fully rested upon ever improving the skills to create stone tools.

In the Mesoliticum (8000-6000 VC) the Ice Age came to an end. Man started developing a production economy rather than a gathering economy. That also caused man to stick to one place for longer periods of time.

In the Neoliticum man learned to polish stones. Agriculture and husbandry were developed and people started making pottery and tools of polished stone. The first real villages emerged.

Then came two ages in which man learned to work metals : the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

Throughout all these ages the valleys of Dordogne and Vézère offered prehistoric man unique hiding places within the many caves that these rivers had cut out of the rock faces. They offered warmth in winter and coolness in summer, protection from rain, wind and wild animals, basically representing safety and comfort. As these caves often held many outlets, they were very suited for making fire within, the smoke being easily vented to the outside.

The Dordogne area not only offers archeological sites from prehistorical times. There was also an extraordinary effort made to exhibit many scenes of the life of prehistoric mankind as accurately as possible. Examples are the "Prehistopark", the "Musée National de la Préhistoire" of Les Eyzies, the cave dwellings of "Les Grottes de Saint Christophe", etc.. These great expositions are also very interesting to children.