Dolmens de Ferrussac
DatedEst. 4000–3000 BCE
Photo Liberliger · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The dolmens de Ferrussac are a group of five dolmens at La Vacquerie-et-Saint-Martin-de-Castries, in the département of Hérault, France. A typological estimate dates them between 4000 and 3000 BCE.
The best known is dolmen no. 1, also called the Grand dolmen de Ferrussac or dolmen de Ferrussac-Esquirol, a passage dolmen set in a tumulus.
Read 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.
Article
Dolmens de Ferrussac
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmens de FerrussacCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmens de FerrussacCC BY-SA 4.0
Dolmen no. 1 has a chamber 3 m long, 1 m wide and 2.30 m high. Its capstone measures 4.80 m by 2.50 m and is 0.50 to 0.70 m thick; its weight is estimated at 19 tonnes. The access passage, 5 m long, is placed much lower than the chamber. The whole structure is contained in a tumulus 20 m in diameter and 2.50 m high.
At dolmen no. 3 all the slabs are of dolomite, and the capstone measures 2.50 m by 1.90 m.
The large passage dolmen and its archaeological site were the subject of a study by Gaston Combarnous, published in the Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France in 1958.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmens de FerrussacCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmens de FerrussacCC BY-SA 4.0
The large passage dolmen and its archaeological site were the subject of a study by Gaston Combarnous, published in the Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France in 1958.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmens de FerrussacCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmens de FerrussacCC BY-SA 4.0
France has some 4,500 dolmens scattered across 60 departments. 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.
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
- 2014
326-335 (lire en ligne) Frédéric Lontcho, Dolmens et menhirs de France, Lacapelle-Marival, Editions Archéologie Nouvelle, coll. « Archéologie Vivante », 2014, 216 p.
Source - 2016
159 Bruno Marc, Dolmens & menhirs : Hérault, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales, Cazouls-les-Béziers, Éditions du Mont, 2016, 170 p.
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
7 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
- 43°47′25″ N, 3°29′02″ EFor a GPS or map app: 43.79020, 3.48400
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.
Ferrussac-Esquirol dolmen4000–3000 BCE
Dolmens de Costa-Caouda4000–3000 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)menhir du Mouton2800–1800 BCE
- Dolmendolmen de Rigoule4000–3000 BCE
menhir de la Mare des Lavagnes2800–1800 BCE
menhir du Lacam des Lavagnes2800–1800 BCE
Mégalithes de la Croix de l'Yeuse4000–3000 BCE
La Prunarède dolmen4000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q29635701wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- La-vacquerie ferrussac-grand 07.jpgLiberligerCC BY-SA 4.0
- La-vacquerie ferrussac-grand 04.jpgLiberligerCC BY-SA 4.0
- La-vacquerie ferrussac-petit 01.jpgLiberligerCC BY-SA 4.0
- La-vacquerie ferrussac-petit 04.jpgLiberligerCC BY-SA 4.0
- LSDolmenDuFerrussac1.jpgZiegler175CC BY-SA 3.0
- LSDolmenDuFerrussac2.jpgZiegler175CC BY-SA 3.0
- Dolmen de Ferrussac.JPGGachepiCC BY-SA 3.0
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
- Ferrussac-Esquirol dolmen<0.1 km W
- Dolmens de Costa-Caouda3.7 km NW
- menhir du Mouton4.1 km SE
- dolmen de Rigoule4.2 km E
- menhir de la Mare des Lavagnes4.5 km SE
- menhir du Lacam des Lavagnes4.9 km E
- Mégalithes de la Croix de l'Yeuse8.7 km S
- La Prunarède dolmen9.2 km N
- Dolmen de la Bruyère d’Usclas9.9 km SW
- Coste-Rouge dolmen11 km SW
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dolmens de Ferrussac" (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): Dolmens de FerrussacCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q29635701CC0