Dolmen
Photo Xic667 · CC0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The dolmens de Surguières and de Saplous form a necropolis in the department of Aveyron, France, straddling the communes of Buzeins and Gaillac-d'Aveyron. It comprises five dolmens, with a probable sixth, known as the dolmens de Surguières, and three known as the dolmens de Saplous.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Article
Dolmen
The hamlet of Surguières lies in the commune of Buzeins, at the boundary with Gaillac-d'Aveyron.
SettingSources for this section
Sources for this section
The hamlet of Surguières lies in the commune of Buzeins, at the boundary with Gaillac-d'Aveyron. Three dolmens, numbered 1, 2 and 3, lie south-south-west of the hamlet in the commune of Gaillac-d'Aveyron; nos. 1 and 3 are shown on the IGN 1:25000 map (Lapanouse). Dolmens no. 4 and no. 5 lie south-south-east of the hamlet, in the commune of Buzeins.
A sixth dolmen probably existed, also south-south-east of the hamlet in Buzeins. It is said to have been destroyed during the construction of the departmental road D 155, and only part of its tumulus is still visible.
DescriptionSources for this section
Sources for this section
Surguières dolmen no. 1 stands about twenty metres south of the D 155, roughly 1,000 metres from the hamlet. It has kept its two orthostates and its tumulus, which is about 9 metres in diameter. The monument is oriented on an azimuth of 100°. A small, poorly identified structure of cist type was built to the west of the monument; its date is unknown. Two slabs lying flat nearby may be the fractured remains of the capstone.
FindsSources for this section
Sources for this section
The objects recovered from Surguières dolmen no. 1 are kept in the museum at Sévérac-le-Château. They are two stemmed flint arrowheads, three fragments of flint and sherds of pottery.
ConservationSources for this section
Sources for this section
One of the Surguières dolmens was classified as a historic monument in 1933, but the decree is very imprecise, stating only that the dolmen lies south-east of the hamlet of Surguières. The three dolmens in the commune of Buzeins could all fit this description. The dolmen known as Saplous no. 2 is explicitly inscribed as a historic monument.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Carnac and the Breton alignments
The Carnac stones, near the south coast of Brittany, are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites, with alignments, dolmens, tumuli and single menhirs. More than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were hewn from local granite and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany, and form the largest such collection in the world. The stones were erected at some stage in the Neolithic, probably around 3300 BCE, though some may date from as early as 4500 BCE. Most lie in the municipality of Carnac, with some to the east in La Trinité-sur-Mer, and others at Locmariaquer, Arzon and on islands in the Gulf of Morbihan.
There are three major groups of rows, called Ménec, Kermario and Kerlescan. They may once have formed a single group, split up as stones were taken for other purposes. Together they trace a contour line about 20 metres above sea level, and the stones are arranged in rows that stretch across four kilometres.
Three exceptionally large burial mounds of the mid-fifth millennium BCE, the "Carnacéen tumuli" of Saint-Michel, Tumiac and Mané-er-Hroëk, each hold a megalithic chamber with a single individual and numerous large polished stone axes. On the island of Gavrinis a passage tomb built around 4200 to 4000 BCE, one of the world's oldest surviving buildings, has stones covered in megalithic art.
Folklore: a Christian legend held that the stones were pagan soldiers pursuing Pope Cornelius, whom he turned to stone. Modern beliefs associate the rows with Roman and Christian occupation, although the stones date from 4500 to 3300 BCE.
Dating comes from radiocarbon dates on the tombs and from the stratigraphy at the foot of the stones.
When visiting, walk the alignments at Ménec and Kermario, and notice the stones growing taller towards one end.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Carnac stones, Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Locmariaquer megaliths, Wikipedia: Gavrinis · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1166
(ISSN 1166-0732). Sites mégalithiques de l'Aveyron Liste des monuments historiques de l'Aveyron
Source - 1933
L'un des dolmens de Surguières est classé au titre des monuments historiques en 1933, mais l'arrêté est très imprécis : « Le dolmen est situé au sud-est du hameau de Surguières » (sic).
Source - 1998
Jacques Lourdou, Inventaire des Mégalithes du centre de l'Aveyron, Rodez, Vivre en Rouergue, Spécial Cahier d'Archéologie Aveyronnaise, 1998, 174 p.
Source
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
Where it stands
France
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 44°22′17″ N, 2°55′56″ EFor a GPS or map app: 44.37130, 2.93210
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.
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
1 source behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q3034042wikidata.org
Image files
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
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dolmens de Surguières et de Saplous" (French), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors