The work of Denis Peyrony (1869-1954)

November 28, 2007

 The archeological history of Les Eyzies began officially in 1863 when Lartet and Christy excavated the cave at Les Eyzies (or Richard?s cave). After only a few months, several sites were discovered and excavated as they searched for proof of antidiluvean man?s existence.The sites of Gorge d?Enfer, Laugerie Haute, Le Moustier and la Madeleine were thus revealed to the scientific world. Following these discoveries and their publication of The Reliquiae Aquitanicae in 1875, fortuitious finds and organised excavations became more and more numerous, (Cro-Magnon, Laugerie Basse etc), all attracting both collectors of fine objects and the first real prehistorians, such as E. Rivière, E.Cartailhac and L.Capitan. In 1891,Denis Peyrony, a true Périgourdin,born at Cussac in Dordogne 20 years earlier, was appointed school master at Les Eyzies. When he met Dr Capitan, 15 years his senior, in 1894, he was literally inoculated with the prehistory virus. Their first research and discoveries together were to multiply at a dizzy rate. With the young abbot Breuil, they discovered the caves at Combarelles and Font de Gaume on the 8th and 12th September 1901. These were the most famous of their discoveries and perhaps overshadowed many others,for in the field of cave art we owe him the discovery of Teyjat, Bernifal, La Calévie etc . This remarkable man of the work field never tired, and it would be almost impossible to give details of his excavations. It is simpler to say that they also yielded prestigious monographs and around 200 articles and scientific works. His chronology of the Mousterian and the Upper Paleolithic are still widely used as references today. He and Capitan assembled an exceptional collection of prehistoric objects in less than 10 years and it was to become the base collection of the National Prehistory Museum and also contributed largely to the greatest French institutes such as the Museum of National Antiquities. We owe Denis Peyrony the merit, too, of being the first person to be concerned about the preservation of Périgord?s archeological heritage. It was high time time to be putting a stop to the pilfering of sites, which, in the absence of all legislation, were left to the prowl of amateur antique dealers , to barely scrupulous scientists or even to internatoinally based racketeers like the Swiss German, Otto Hauser. The latter had forged himself a reputation for his plundering in the area since 1908:- the scandal of the Laussel sculpture,the skeletons of Le Moustier and Combe Capelle, acquired by the Berlin Museum and the aborted one at the Poisson shelter,(when the ?antique dealer? was expelled), just to name a few. In a highly patriotic atmosphere and from 1913 onwards, the history of the Museum at Les Eyzies became inseparable from that of its promoter, Denis Peyrony. He had the state buy the ruined castle at this date, and installed a storage for excavations plus a proper museum there. By a stroke of good fortune the forerunner of modern archeology was to encounter this fine building, itself set on a Magdalenean site. The symbolic meeting has been underlined many a time. Reconstruction of the building began in August 1914 but four out of the five labourers were mobilised in the first world- wide conflicts. However, in 1918, three rooms were already accessible to the public and the official opening was in 1923. The Minister of Beaux Arts, Paul Léon, opened the room on the 3rd floor and unveiled Darde?s statue of primitive man, in 1931, with great pomp and ceremony. D.Peyrony, already appointed responsible for the mission of the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1910,was to hold concurrently, the position of Museum Curator in 1928 and Inspector of Historical Monuments in 1929. He thus ensured the supervision, the management and the protection of the regions? most important sites. It was he too who was responsible for the creation of Les Eyzies? Tourist Information Office. His career had begun in general education and he doubtless was extremely sensitive in this field too. The Information Office was offering tours to a dozen important prehistoric sites as early as in 1920. Denis Peyrony, pioneer in scientific archeological research had infact just put this modest village (future World Capital of Prehistory ),on to the road to cultural tourism , a road it would no longer leave.

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