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Digging Out the CenturiesUnblemished History Unfolding at Chateau de CommarqueBy Will SnyderThe Chateau de Commarque continues its transformation from a buried medieval fortress to an excavated Middle Ages high art form, as a progression of archeological digs uncovers room by room, stone by stone, souvenirs from the past 15,000 years
To learn more about the sites :-Chateau de Commarque, 24620 Les Eyzies, Tel: 33 553 590 025, located between Sarlat and Les Eyzies, www.commarque.com -Grotte de Font de Gaume, 24620 Les Eyzies, Tel : 33 553 068 600, located just outside of the town of Les Eyzies. Reservations should by made by telephone in advance, as the daily limit of 200 persons means most days are fully booked. -Grotte de Combarelles, 24620 Les Eyzies, Tel: 33 553 068 600, located 3 kilometers outside of the town. Food and Lodging: there are many choices. In nearby village Marquay there are 3 hotels each with restaurant facilities: -Hotel Blanchard tel: 33 553 296 661 -Hotel des Bories: 33 553 296 702 -Hotel la Condamine: 33 553 288 159 Perigord is one of the culinary centers of France, and there are many excellent restaurants featuring local specialties such as confit d’oie, cepes mushrooms and foie gras. Among the dozen hotel/ restaurants in Les Eyzies (about 8 kilometers from Commarque) is the Hotel du Centennaire, 24620 Les Eyzies, tel 33 553 066 668, with renowned sommelier Tim Harrison. http://www.relaischateaux.com/site/us/rc_centenaire_services.html Will Snyder is a free lance writer living in southwest
France. Photographs by Will Snyder |
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A small mechanical front-loader has backed up too close
to the stone remnant of a medieval wall and become stuck in a gravelly pit.
As the professional archeologists maneuver larger machines to extract the
engine and its awkward wheel, Hubert de Commarque calls a halt to the
proceedings and interrogates each person of the risks of the proposed
action. He makes sure everyone understands what is to be done
and adds his own warning and instructions before giving the go ahead, then
paces back and forth, keeping a close eye as the engine is slowly moved to
safety. He wants no mistakes, and insists that further excavation is done by
hand.
The 12th – 14th Century fortified village known as
Chateau de Commarque, deep in the wooded hills of the Perigord in Southwest
France, is in the center of a fascinating series of archeological
discoveries, currently featuring the excavation of a former noble
dwelling known as Escars Tower and the courtyard in front of the barbican.
One group of archeologists has recently finished its mission, another
including students from New York
University
will begin in August. Meanwhile, the entire site remains open to the public,
proudly showing the new discoveries to visitors who climb from the valley up
medieval steps, along a path between roped off areas, and finally into the
castle and up to the sentries’ lookout tower.
Visiting Commarque
is not admiring a genteel furnished dwelling, but a romantic adventure for
anyone interested in ancient stone structures. For like many medieval
structures, this one is built on solid rock. It has incorporated some of the
prehistoric rock shelter features, converting cave dwellings to cooking and
food storage areas or animal pens, and incorporating cave passageways to
connect middle age dwellings. 
There are several amazing aspects of this site, that
make it one of the best anywhere in Southwest France. For one, the owner is
a descendant of the same family that built a tower and gave its name to the
castle. Then there is the evidence left by human presence here since
prehistoric times (a small cave with carvings
can be visited by small
groups, from the valley the extensive rock shelter of troglodyte peoples can
be seen and explored on both rocky cliffs down to the valley). The current attraction is the removal of 350 years of rubble and soil to
uncover an unspoiled set of buildings of Romanesque origin. The abandoned
and forgotten nature of the site during all those years (except by ramblers
and weekend stone seekers) prevented any 19th Century remodeling by an Abadie or Violet le Duc
to destroy the pure medieval design of the original. 
Much is known of the history of the site, including the
names and relationships among the six noble families sharing the hilltop,
which adds to the intrigue like a medieval mystery. The site was captured
several times, by the English in 1406, by the Catholics in 1569, but its
ultimate fate of abandonment remains curiously uncertain. The reason given
by the owner is that without a road through the valley, it was no longer
viable for the noble families to live in such isolated surroundings, and the
inhabitants all moved to more commercially productive locations. This makes
sense, the site is at the end of a long trek through dense and hilly woods.
And there is no road through the valley, which has accumulated more than 12
feet of silt and soil in the interim. But there are other isolated sites
that remained occupied- one can be sited on a distant hillside, the Chateau
de Laussel. So there may well be another cause for the desertion. Was there
a final battle, a curse, a plague that wiped out the inhabitants? Perhaps
the continuing digs will uncover a clue to the departure in the 17th Century
of all of the inhabitants of the site.
Hubert de Commarque
has some ambitious plans for his chateau, beyond the dramatic unearthing of
buried treasures. He wants to turn the ruins into usable rooms, creating a
three level enclosed facility, rooms that could house conferences and
meetings of groups, turning the castle tower into a multipurpose center that
would help to ensure it remains, as he puts it, “a destination of choice for
tourists and scientists for generations to come.” 
It is a very dynamic and spiritual location for a
half-day journey, with a miraculous spring pumping water down below (a 13th
Century chapel was named after John the Baptist in honor of the miracles
that occurred), and incredible nature views from the lookout tower up above.
There is more than enough to fire the imagination, and authors such as
Robert Merle and filmmakers like Ridley Scott (the Duellists was shot here)
have succumbed to its charms. So will you. I asked Hubert if a scale clay
model of the village was planned, and he quickly replied that so many
discoveries are being made, such a presentation would quickly be outdated.
This is what makes the romantic visit of Commarque so enticing- come back
six months later, and there is something new to visit. 
While in the Perigord (an ancient name, the region is
also known by the modern citation of Dordogne), you should not miss the many
prehistoric caves and rock shelters, most within a ten minute drive from
Commarque. Of particular interest are the Font de Gaume Cave, (the only site
in the world still showing polychrome prehistoric drawings to the public-
limited to 200 visitors per day due to carbon dioxide damage) and the
Combarelles Cave, with more than 600 carved images from prehistoric times.