La Grosse-Pierre
DatedEst. 4000–3000 BCE
Photo PercheronJoe · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
La Grosse-Pierre, also called the dolmen du Bois de la Pierre, is a dolmen in the commune of Cour-Maugis sur Huisne, in the département of Orne, France. A typological estimate places it between 4000 and 3000 BCE.
The monument has a single capstone resting on four pillars. It was excavated several times in the nineteenth century and has been inscribed as a monument historique since 4 April 1949.
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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
La Grosse-Pierre
The dolmen stands in the bois de Saint-Laurent, 4 km north-east of the village of the former commune of Boissy-Maugis, within whose territory it lay before 2016.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
The dolmen stands in the bois de Saint-Laurent, 4 km north-east of the village of the former commune of Boissy-Maugis, within whose territory it lay before 2016.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
The structure has a single capstone of quartzite, measuring 4.60 m in length and 2.70 m in width. It rests on four pillars of grison.
FindsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
Polished axes and a scraper were found beneath the capstone and in the area around the monument.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
The dolmen was excavated on a number of occasions, in 1858, 1860, 1868 and 1884.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
It has been inscribed as a monument historique since 4 April 1949.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen de la Grosse-PierreCC BY-SA 4.0
Monuments of this kind in France are usually defined as single-chamber megalithic tombs, with two or more upright stones carrying a great capstone. Most are dated 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
- 1858
L'édifice est fouillé à de nombreuses reprises en 1858, 1860, 1868, 1884. Il fait l’objet d’une inscription au titre des monuments historiques depuis le 4 avril 1949.
Source - 2016
Le mégalithe est situé dans le bois de Saint-Laurent, à 4 km au nord-est du bourg de l'ancienne commune de Boissy-Maugis, au territoire de laquelle il était intégré avant 2016.
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
- 48°27′59″ N, 0°45′01″ EFor a GPS or map app: 48.46639, 0.75028
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 Q22963507wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Dolmen de la Grosse-Pierre.jpgPercheronJoeCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dolmen de la Grosse-Pierre" (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