The choice of landscapes to settle in after the nomadic Prehistory, 10,000 years ago, is characterized by mature and wise thinking. The lively waters of the Ladouch stream — "The Source" in Occitan — splash the hillsides of a fertile valley before flowing into the Vézère River. It floods, in turn, vast undulating plains through its sinuous meanders.

The celebration of the Centenaire du Musée National de la Préhistoire in Les Eyzies was a great success because it was very well thought out in advance. The people who organised it called upon the appropriate skilful collaborators. Nathalie Fourment, Docteur en Préhistoire and directrice du Musée National de Préhistoire, thanked them warmly when delivering her historical speech. She had a brainwave, a very bright idea: chartering a steam locomotive dated of the time the Musée National was created in the old village Les Eyzies de Tayac. It carried away the crowd, thrilled to hear that old train whir and whistle in the Vallée de la Vézère. The program for that very special anniversary day was rich and varied: visiting public and private prehistoric deposits, guided by the expert lecturers from the Centre des Monuments nationaux, rediscovering the collections of the Musée decrypted by the students of Bordeaux Universirty prehistory department, film projections in the auditorium, and meetings with the scientific team of the Musée, particularly round the corner of the new path outdoor, giving new and due attention to the cliffs and the ancient « château-musée », one of its oldest exhibition rooms having been carefully reorganised.
En avant goût, pour nous replonger un siècle en arrière, fut imaginé et mis en scène par Christian Taponard, avec le conseil scientifique d’Éléonore de Castro, un parcours théâtral et musical de la gare au musée, restituant l’émerveillement des gens il y a 100 ans, voire même 150 ans, lorsque la Préhistoire repointa vaillamment le bout de son nez sous les coups de pioche des grands travaux entamés dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle. Un spectacle interprété avec émotion et intensité le long de la falaise et intitulé : « Le 30 septembre 1923 aux Eyzies ou La Folle Journée - Impromptu théâtral en déambulation pour une commémoration. »
As a foretaste, just to make us plunge back into a century, a musical and theatrical journey from the station to the Musée was conceived and staged by Christian Taponard, with science advisor Eléonore de Castro, rendering the wonder felt by people 100 and even 150 years ago, as Prehistory bravely showed up again, under the pickaxe blows when the major works started in the second part of the XIXth century. A live show performed with emotional intensity all along the cliff, entitled: «  Le 30 septembre 1923 aux Eyzies ou la Folle Journée – Impromptu théâtral en déambulation pour une commémoration. » (« sept 30, 1923 in Les Eyzies or The Extraordinary Crazy Day – A wandering theatrical Impromptu for a celebration »), in front of him.

Since it was created in 2006, our www.albuga.info website has given pride of place to archaeological digs and promising projects carried out in Nouvelle Aquitaine.

After all those years spent in touch with prehistorians, on the excavation sites as well as attending the conferences, the time has come to widen the search field of our journalistic investigations.

Prehistory, as this scientific discipline has been practised since the mid 19th century, concerns the history of humans, the emergence of our species on Earth being the starting point.

It is more than difficult to place the cursor as we came into existence neither ex abrupto, norex nihilo, nor suddenly, nor just from nothing – let me apologize but I felt like using a bit of my Latin “expressions”.

We are the present stage of a very long evolution, as the human lineage managed to take on various forms to suit the changes of climate and landscapes, till it turned out to become the unique species nowadays peopling the whole surface of the Earth: all of us, Homo sapiens, meaning – let me apologize again – skilful men.

As far as the tardigrade, – our ambassador on TARDIGLOBE – is concerned, focusing mainly on the emergence of the human lineage would mean forgetting all about what happened on Earth before.

Life, as we understand the term, embodied by living beings whose movements we can observe, did really start more than four billions years before. One could even say that, taking into account the never-ending and even imperceptible transformations of minerals, all of them originating from extra-terrestrial star dust, which turned into asteroids and meteorites breaking through our atmosphere, the evolution of life on Earth in extenso dates back to four billions years and a half.

Such is the age of our blue planet that came into being together with the formation of the solar system. Our galaxy is of course part of a Multiverse, a recent concept embracing a boundless infinite number of actual galaxies far beyond the universe that can be seen by our telescopes and all sorts of most recent measure equipment we know.

By no means, all this should make your head spin. The TARDIGLOBE is an invitation to a special journey towards the Earth, to rediscover its wonders and beauties. One can only feel like saving what we have learnt to love. Our aim is to try and trace the history of all the forms of life on Earth. Day after day, the main stages of this blooming profusion are brought together again by the international scientific community, always based upon concrete remains. As biologist and oceanographer Gilles BOEUF puts it so clearly:

“What is the role of a researcher? Telling true stories based on objects of little or no interest and even looking ugly! ”

So many true stories can be told to have an opinion about the incredible never-ending chemical experiments imagined by life, to create, over the course of time, lots of mineral species, bacteria, algae, yeast, plants and mycelium, animals, etc. Life has continuously done the best to try out everything, producing that fabulous so fragile biodiversity, we at last care about today.

The project of TARDIGLOBE is to explore, investigate, make progress, pass down, starting through immersion in paleo-artist Elisabeth Daynès research centre.

For the last thirty years, she has been dusting and giving new life, new presence and dignity, to our human fossils.

Through contact with her mind-boggling anthropological reconstructions, we are deeply moved meeting those men and women of the past. Her handling and genius have made them look larger than life, more authentic than the original ones.

Before giving you your “ticket for species”, let me quote British poet and artist William BLAKE, he who did inspire U2 rock’n roll group for their superb album “Songs of innocence”.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
Le mariage du Ciel et de l'Enfer – William Blake – (1793) [“The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” – William Blake – 1793.]

Have a nice trip and please trust me. I will always suggest to you going further for new take-offs.

Don’t wait anymore to meet Élisabeth DAYNÈS among her loved ones, in her research centre:

BUILD AFRESH THE FACES FROM THE PAST FORGETTING ALL OUR PRESENT PREJUDICES
Meet face to face Élisabeth DAYNÈS human lineage

Sophie CATTOIRE
Journaliste Grand Reporter

Traduction Jacques SARABEN
avec sa tendresse pour son amour de toujours Valérie SARABEN dont il poursuit l'œuvre.