Perched some 262 feet above the Vézère River are a half mile series of cliff dwellings that have seen human habitation continually since Paleolithic times some 17,000 years ago all the way through the 16th century. And while the cliff dwellings were extremely interesting, I was particularly taken with some dwellings down below in a meadow that was fenced off to the public. The colors in the sandstone and the flat lighting and the shadows of thousands of years of human lives being played out in this one spot made for a palpable sense of place. Not to be daunted by a cyclone fence, I returned to Roc St. Christophe three days later and got permission from the owner (yes, someone actually owns this major archaeological site) to squeeze between a rock and the fence and photograph for an hour. It was a very productive hour. While rock is not always inviting, in this instance, the face in this dwelling, beckons us to come in and search the darkness.