Location: |
Thonac, 7 km from Montignac.
(45.03567996080545, 1.1233253132428607) |
Open: |
JAN to MAR daily 10-17:30. APR to JUN daily 10-18. JUL to AUG daily 10-19:30. SEP to NOV daily 10-18. DEC daily 10-17:30. Last entry 1 h before closing. Closed 01-JAN, 06-JAN, 07-JAN, 25-DEC. [2011] |
Fee: |
Adults EUR 10, Children (5-12) EUR 6.50, Children (0-4) free. Groups (20+): Adults EUR 8, School Pupils (5-11) EUR 5.10. Combi Ticket with Lascaux IV: Adults EUR 24, Children (5-12) EUR 15.60, Children (0-4) free. Groups (20+): Adults EUR 18,40, School Pupils (5-11) EUR 11.70. Tickets sold only at the Mairie (town hall) at Montignac. [2020] |
Classification: | Museums |
Light: | Incandescent |
Dimension: | |
Guided tours: | |
Photography: | |
Accessibility: | |
Bibliography: | |
Address: | Le Parc du Thot, Le Thot, 24290 Thonac, Tel: +33-553-50-70-44. E-mail: |
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info. |
The museum at Thonac is called Le Thot or Espace Cro-Magnon. It is actually a zoo with a reproduction of the less important part of Lascaux cave. This is the side passage of the cave to the right side of the world famous Chamber of Bulls. The Chamber of Bulls is reproduced at Lascaux II in a 100% identical reproduction. Le Thot has a symbolic cave passage with patches of the cave wall, reproduced with the paintings and the engravings. As Lascaux II is advertised to contain 96% of the paintings so we guess the reproduction at Le Thot shows most of the other 4%.
The rest of the park provides an insight into the animals that Cro-Magnon man (33,000 to 18,000 BC) knew. Still living animals like deer, Przewaslki horses, and ibex are shown as a sort of ice age zoo. Extinct animals are reproduced in life sized sculptures. Definitely a site for children, popular for school classes.
Until the late 20th century archaeology catalogued the findings and interpreted their production and use on a rather theoretical basis. If there was a flint tool they looked for similarities, for example with modern axes or arrowheads and called them ax or arrowhead. The new idea was to take a piece of flint, try to produce a useful tool, and then use the tool for its possible uses. The result was a revolution in archaeology, as many theoretical assumptions were actually wrong, and many additional uses which were never theorized were found. This park is a kind of open air museum which shows animals which were hunted during the neolithic and still exist today. There are tools, tents, fireplaces and many other aspects of daily life, which were actually recreated using the tools and raw materials which were available then and which were actually found during excavations.