Old Tayac Castle in the municipality of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, at the heart of the Vézère Valley and near the Lascaux cave, is home to the National Prehistoric Museum in Dordogne, which has one of France's most extensive Palaeolithic collections with over 12,000 exhibits.
In a resolutely contemporary building, you can see all the oldest traces left by humankind: stone tools, art objects, and life-sized reconstructions of prehistoric people and extinct animals, from the first hunter-gatherers living in Aquitaine, circa - 500 000, to the end of the Ice Age, circa - 10 000.
The lower gallery is about the big cultural and environmental changes linked to Homo sapiens and Neanderthal man. The upper gallery is dedicated to their ways of life: gathering, hunting, fishing, raw material processing, habitat, burial, etc.
A specific programme of activities, updated every 6 months, enables the museum to diversify its approach, while also teaming up with big cultural events like the Heritage Days to offer special themed activities.
There are dedicated activities for families, such as tours on the theme of Neanderthal man, or drawing workshops where visitors can "sketch" the museum in real life.
