In the spring of 1974, following the advice of the translator Helen Lane, the Eshlemans visit the Dordogne region of France. They rent a furnished apartment and begin visiting the Paleolithic painted caves in the area, including Lascaux. Eshleman decides to undertake an in-depth investigation into the Paleolithic imagination and the imagery of the painted caves. The project will be a central area of his writing and research over the next three decades, resulting in the publication of his major work Juniper Fuse: Upper Paleolithic Imagination and the Construction of the Underworld in 2003. In addition to Lascaux, which Eshleman will visit on several more occasions over the next twenty-five years, he visits Font-de-Gaume, Combarelles, Niaux, Garges, Marsoulas, Le Portel, Le Tuc d’Audoubert, and Les Trois Frères, among other sites. The project is supported at various points by grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Beginning in 1981, he and Caryl organize and lead a guided tour of the painted caves and the region in general. The tour will continue irregularly, ultimately gaining sponsorship from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, through 2008. Guest-lecturers on the tour include Robert Creeley and Gary Snyder among others.