Dolmen de Maupertuis
DatedEst. 4000–3000 BCE
Photo Carol Barbone · Public domainSource file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
Le dolmen de Lhomme, également appelé dolmen de Maupertuis est un dolmen situé à Lhomme, en France.
Article in FrenchRead on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
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
Dolmen de Maupertuis: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Dolmen de Lhomme, also called Dolmen de Maupertuis, is a dolmen at Lhomme in the Sarthe department of France. It stands in the north-east of the commune.
The monument forms a quadrilateral covering a little over twenty square metres. Its capstone rests on seven upright stones.
The dolmen has been listed as a historic monument since 8 February 1984. It is dated by typological estimate to 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE.
Dolmens of this kind in France generally date to the Late Neolithic, about 4000 to 3000 BCE. They are single-chamber megalithic tombs with two or more upright stones supporting a large capstone. Many were originally covered with earth or smaller stones to form a mound.
No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Dolmen de Lhomme", shown in the original language.
Summary in EnglishSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Dolmen de Maupertuis is a dolmen in Lhomme, France. A typological estimate: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Dolmen de Lhomme", shown in the original language.
LocalisationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Le dolmen est situé au nord-est de la commune de Lhomme, dans le département français de la Sarthe (département).
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Le dolmen de Lhomme forme un quadrilatère d'une vingtaine de mètres carrés. Sa table repose sur sept pierres debout.
HistoriqueSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
L'édifice est inscrit au titre des monuments historiques depuis le 8 février 1984.
AnnexesSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Bibliographie
Jean-Paul Henri Berthet, À la découverte des mégalithes en Sarthe, Le Mans, Berger, 1992, 72 p., p. 42
Articles connexes
Liste des monuments historiques de la Sarthe
Sites mégalithiques de la Sarthe
Lhomme
RéférencesSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Portail des monuments historiques français Portail de la Sarthe Portail du mégalithisme
How this page was madeSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
The summary at the top of this page was written by MiniMax-M3 (2026-11-08) from the cited Wikipedia article “Dolmen de Lhomme”, translated from French. The numbers in it were checked automatically against the source text. The rest of the page is the article itself, the structured records and computed distances.
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
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1984
L'édifice est inscrit au titre des monuments historiques depuis le 8 février 1984.
Source
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
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
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
- 47°46′07″ N, 0°35′11″ EFor a GPS or map app: 47.76860, 0.58639
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.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q3034020wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Dolmen de maupertuis.JPGCarol BarbonePublic domain
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Dolmen de Lhomme" (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
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de LhommeCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q3034020CC0