Bifaces from the Acheulean period (between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago) were recovered from the gravel pits at La Ballastière de La Fosse in Le Pêchereau and from those at Palis in Argenton during the construction of the Paris-Toulouse railway in the middle of the 19th century. These remain the earliest indications of the presence of man in the Argenton-sur-Creuse area. A small grotto was also discovered in Le Pêchereau during work on the La Châtre to Châteauroux line in 1898-1899. Scrapers and flint arrowheads dating from the Mousterian period (80,000 - 35,000 BC) were discovered amongst the remains of a hearth.

More recently, about 19,000 years ago, the Solutrean civilisation populated the valley. Excavations in the prehistoric deposits upstream at Fressignes (Eguzon) and downstream at the Abri Fritsch in Pouligny-Saint-Pierre, attest to the presence of open-air camps, grottoes and shelters.

It was towards the end of the Upper Palaeolithic, 14,000 years ago that the La Garenne grotto at Saint-Marcel was sporadically inhabited. The Magdalenians had to contend with the final, very cold phase of the last (Würm) ice age. Dotted over the meagre vegetation of the steppe were isolated stands of Scots pine and birch. Across this desolate landscape, buffeted by icy winds, roamed herds of reindeer, bison and horses.

The south-facing grottoes penetrating the Bajocian limestone of the hillside at La Garenne, attracted hunters, particularly since the caves dominate a rocky bottleneck joining two alluvial plains sheltered from the north winds.

This gully, only a hundred metres wide and crossed diagonally by the Creuse, was the obvious route for animals migrating or seeking out new pasture, and formed a natural trap in which reindeer, bison and horses would fall easy prey to those lying in wait.

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Items in bone were also found in abundance, particularly assegais, a very rare example of which has grooves cut into it which still hold several flint splinters which acted as barbs.

Lighting was by means of tallow lamps. The excavations at La Garenne have yielded 27, out of around a hundred discovered in the whole of France. These lamps are made from limestone rocks, or occasionally Volvic lava, with natural hollows. Charcoal or bone ends were the wicks of choice whilst animal fat was used as the combustible material.

Still visible today on the walls of the Blanchard grotto are traces of a kind of red ochre paint, with strokes and points painted in black and red. Also apparent are engraved markings: parallel hatchings, radiating rays and more or less concentric circles. The only figurative element is a small, rudimentary engraving of a horse's head about twelve centimetres long and partially covered with striations.

It is the rarity of animal representation that makes this cave art special. A reindeer antler carved with a bison, two does and a stag has been found, but it is human figures, both schematic and realistic, which take pride of place here.

The exceptional pendant "aux danseuses" with six silhouettes holding hands is one remarkable example.

The human head, so rare in classical Magdalenian, has been found depicted on an extraordinary small, pierced baton of reindeer antler as a face viewed from the front. This is one of the most outstanding items that the La Garenne deposits have yielded.