Bois des Géantes, dolmen N°1
DatedEst. 4000–3000 BCE
Photo Besenbinder · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
The dolmen known as Bois des Géantes, dolmen N°1 lies in Bourg-Saint-Andéol, France. Its entries are Wikidata item Q22966736; the position in the catalogue is 44.3641° N, 4.5840° E.
Built from structured records, not from an articleSources and licences
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
The full article
About Bois des Géantes, dolmen N°1
This kind of monument hereSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
France is the dolmen country of Europe: the Dolmen de Bagneux at Saumur is the largest of some 4,500 dolmens scattered across 60 French departments, and one of the largest in Europe. A dolmen is a single-chamber megalithic tomb with two or more upright stones carrying a great capstone. Most date to the Late Neolithic, about 4000 to 3000 BCE, and many were covered with earth or smaller stones to form a mound. The full article, “French dolmens”, follows below under About this kind of monument.
DatingSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
The Atlas shows 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE for this site, but that is a regional estimate for this kind of monument, not a date for this particular dolmen. No excavation, radiocarbon sample or other measurement is recorded for it, so the real age could fall anywhere within the range, or outside it.
The range rests on this regional background (source: the Wikipedia article “Dolmen”): Most dolmens date from the Late Neolithic period (4000-3000 BCE).
Landscape and neighbours
Counting outward from Bois des Géantes, dolmen N°1, there are 6 catalogued sites within 1 km, 10 within 5 km and 14 within 10 km, and 12 of them are also classed as dolmen. In Bourg-Saint-Andéol, France, 7 of the 7 catalogued sites are classed as dolmen.
The nearest neighbours in the catalogue are dolmens n° 7 du Bois des Géantes (0.0 km west, dolmen); Bois des Géantes dolmens (0.5 km north-west, dolmen); Bois des Géantes, dolmen N°2 (0.7 km north-west, dolmen); dolmens n° 5 du Bois des Géantes (0.7 km north-west, dolmen). The catalogue is assembled from open records and is not complete, so unrecorded monuments may lie closer.
Records and protectionSources for this section
Sources for this section
Wikidata lists the site with the heritage status classified historical monument. The open records for it are Wikidata (Q22966736), where corrections and further identifiers can be added. Access varies from open common land to private fields; check local access rules, ask where needed, and take care not to damage the monument.
How this page was madeSources for this section
Sources for this section
This page was built automatically from Wikidata (CC0), the heritage register named above and the regional article “French dolmens”, written for the Atlas from the Wikipedia articles it cites (CC BY-SA 4.0), plus distances and counts computed from the catalogue coordinates. It contains no AI-written text.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
French dolmens
France is the dolmen country of Europe: the Dolmen de Bagneux at Saumur is the largest of some 4,500 dolmens scattered across 60 French departments, and one of the largest in Europe. A dolmen is a single-chamber megalithic tomb with two or more upright stones carrying a great capstone. Most date to the Late Neolithic, about 4000 to 3000 BCE, and many were covered with earth or smaller stones to form a mound.
Some of the oldest megalithic monuments in Europe are in western France. The Cairn of Barnenez in Finistère dates to the early Neolithic, around 4000 BCE, and with the Tumulus of Bougon and the Locmariaquer megaliths it is among the earliest megalithic monuments in Europe; it also has megalithic art. La Roche-aux-Fées near Essé in Ille-et-Vilaine is a covered corridor about 20 metres long, built of some 48 blocks, the heaviest around 45 tonnes, and divided into two chambers. It is thought to date from 3000 to 2500 BCE, and its entrance is aligned on sunrise at the winter solstice.
Folklore: the name of La Roche-aux-Fées, "the fairies' rock", comes from a legend that fairies placed the stones. Such stories are traditions about the monuments, not evidence of how they were built.
Because the Atlas draws on national inventories, its French records include many small and ruined dolmens, often reduced to a capstone resting on a few supports. Dates rest on the typology of the monument and, where a dolmen has been excavated, on radiocarbon dating of material from the chamber.
When visiting, look for the capstone and its supports, for the low rise of the old mound around the stones, and for the direction in which the entrance faces.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Dolmen de Bagneux, Wikipedia: La Roche-aux-Fées, Wikipedia: Barnenez, Wikipedia: Carnac stones · CC BY-SA 4.0
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Photographs
6 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 4000–3000 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for dolmens in France; this site has not been dated itself. Most dolmens date from the Late Neolithic period (4000-3000 BCE).Source for this date
Where it stands
France
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 44°21′51″ N, 4°35′02″ EFor a GPS or map app: 44.36410, 4.58400
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
dolmens n° 7 du Bois des Géantes4000–3000 BCE
Bois des Géantes dolmens4000–3000 BCE
Bois des Géantes, dolmen N°24000–3000 BCE
dolmens n° 5 du Bois des Géantes4000–3000 BCE
Bois des Géantes, dolmen N°34000–3000 BCE
dolmens n° 4 du Bois des Géantes4000–3000 BCE
Pradinas dolmen4000–3000 BCE
Champvermeil dolmen4000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q22966736wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Dolmen I D358 © by Besenbinder - panoramio.jpgBesenbinderCC BY-SA 3.0
- Dolmen du Bois des Géantes no. 1.JPGPetr1888CC BY-SA 3.0
- Dolmen du Bois des Géantes no. 1a.JPGPetr1888CC BY-SA 3.0
- Dolmen du Bois des Géantes no. 1b.JPGPetr1888CC BY-SA 3.0
- Dolmen du bois des géantes N°1, Bourg St Andéol, Ardèche, France.jpgCeledaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Dolmen N°1 du bois des géantes, Bourg St Andéol.jpgCeledaCC BY-SA 4.0
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- dolmens n° 7 du Bois des Géantes<0.1 km W
- Bois des Géantes dolmens0.5 km NW
- Bois des Géantes, dolmen N°20.7 km NW
- dolmens n° 5 du Bois des Géantes0.7 km NW
- Bois des Géantes, dolmen N°30.7 km NW
- dolmens n° 4 du Bois des Géantes0.8 km NW
- Pradinas dolmen1.8 km SW
- Champvermeil dolmen2.4 km W
- Grosse Pierre4.4 km SW
- Colombier dolmen4.7 km SW
Credit
Text, licence and sources
This page is assembled from open records (Wikidata, CC0; OpenStreetMap, ODbL) and a tradition article paraphrasing Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). No article exists for this site, and nothing here is written by a model.
- Wikidata Q22966736CC0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0