tip (basic single bevel and dual slot) called the 'spear of Lussac'. The local museum contains displays devoted to the cave. The 'Guy Martin' network, discovered by cavers in 1990, is a cavern bristling with many stalactites. On one wall is engraved a 60 cm long mammoth and diverse representations. Bone fragments have been found. Like La Marche, this cave is dated to Magdalenian III (from about 14,000 years ago). The site was therefore already inhabited in the Magdalenian period 17,000 years ago as evidenced by the many slabs of carved limestone found in these caves. Human occupation continued after the Palaeolithic. The dolmen of Loubressac attests to a human presence in the Neolithic. Between about 6000 and 4000 years ago, tribes scattered along the banks of the Vienne constructed megalithic tombs, of which little remains today. A stone capstone held up by upright stones formed a burial chamber, which was covered with a mound of soil. Were these the graves of chiefs or commoners? Various hypotheses have been advanced to explain these Neolithic monuments. Gallo-Roman era The district was originally 'Luciacum', the tribal domain of the Gallo-Roman chief 'Lucius'. The name became 'Luciago' and later 'Lussac'. Some artefacts of Gallo-Roman social and artistic life, such as pottery and coins, have been found. Local place names, such as 'Vaux villars', suggest that the occupants of Gallo-Roman villae worked in agriculture. A Gallo-Roman village at Civaux, few kilometres from Lussac, is well known from archaeology. By this period, the inhabitants were already using the river as a means of communication. Middle Ages Lussac, like many mediaeval towns, seems to have grown up around a castle built during the feudal era. The fragmentation of central power necessitated the establishment of fortresses, including on the provincial borders, to fight against land-hungry neighbouring warlords. The Lord of Lussac was a vassal of the Count de la Marche (Limousin) and had to defend this border area against Poitou. According to tradition, the castle was built about 780. It is first referred to in the archives in 1065 as belonging to the Conis family of Saint-Germain. In the next two centuries, the castle was held by two families. Sir John Chandos was appointed seneschal of Poitou in 1369 by the King of England, and settled in Poitiers. In the same year Sir John noticed, to his "annoyance!, that the French were regaining a foothold in the