Editing Lascaux (section)

==Geographic setting==
[[Image:Lascaux II.jpg|thumb|Reproduction of Lascaux artwork in Lascaux II]]
In its sedimentary composition, the [[Vézère]] drainage basin covers one fourth of the ''département'' of the Dordogne, the northernmost region of the [[Périgord|Black Périgord]]. Before joining the [[Dordogne (river)|Dordogne River]] near Limeuil, the Vézère flows in a south-westerly direction. At its centre point, the river's course is marked by a series of meanders flanked by high limestone cliffs that determine the landscape. Upstream from this steep-sloped relief, near [[Montignac, Dordogne|Montignac]] and in the vicinity of Lascaux, the contours of the land soften considerably; the valley floor widens, and the banks of the river lose their steepness.

The Lascaux valley is located some distance from the major concentrations of decorated caves and inhabited sites, most of which were discovered further downstream.<ref name=nechvatal>{{cite book|last=Nechvatal|first=Joseph|title=Immersion into Noise|year=2011|publisher=Open Humanities Press|location=Ann Arbor|isbn=978-1-60785-241-4|url=http://openhumanitiespress.org/immersion-into-noise.html|access-date=30 December 2012|pages=74–76|archive-date=17 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117015452/http://openhumanitiespress.org/immersion-into-noise.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In the environs of the village of Eyzies-de-Tayac Sireuil, there are no fewer than 37 decorated caves and shelters, as well as an even greater number of habitation sites from the Upper Paleolithic, located in the open, beneath a sheltering overhang, or at the entrance to one of the area's [[karst]] cavities. This is the highest concentration in Europe.