So wide and impressive is the Rhône valley, that it cuts the south of France in two parts. This giant flatland corridor holds a remarkable archeological preservation dating from the wilderness of Paleolithic. Here, bison, horse, bear, lion and hyena shared the ice age landscapes with the Neanderthal.

Into this land, we find a human story stretching for a duration of over 250,000 years. Indeed, this deep-time archeology pinpoints the Neanderthal-extinction event, as well as revealing the very earliest incursion of Homo sapiens in Europe, dating to 52,000 years ago.

Here too - remarkably - we have the most ancient and awesome of cave paintings anywhere on the planet: the Chauvet Cave!

Follow Rob Hope into the Paleolithic.