Lamalou dolmen

The dolmen is enclosed in a large tumulus 15 m in diameter and 3 m high, the base of which was consolidated with a circular row of slabs set vertically. The monument opens to the south-west, in the direction of the natural slope.

The passage is 5.10 m long and about 1 m wide. It is slightly arched and off-axis, which may result from the thrust of the mass of the tumulus. It is bounded by dry-stone walls reaching a maximum of about 1 m in height near the entrance of the antechamber. The entrance of the passage was marked by a large threshold stone mentioned by Arnal but since lost. The end part, 3 m from the threshold, is covered by two slabs resting directly on the dry-stone walls. It is not known whether the passage was originally covered throughout; if so, the height under the slabs would have required crawling to reach the chamber.

The passage and antechamber are separated by a partition of two vertical slabs, one of which is pierced by an opening in the shape of an oven door (0.74 m wide by 0.90 m high). The antechamber measures about 2 m long by 1.80 m wide, with a height varying from 0.90 to 1 m. Its walls are of dry stone made of thin slabs; the north wall had a slight corbelling when discovered, but the south wall had already collapsed at the time of the excavations. The antechamber is covered by two slabs, and this covering was reinforced during the restoration by a third slab placed on top.

The chamber has a slightly trapezoidal plan: 2.24 m wide on the entrance side and 2.17 m on the rear side, with a depth of about 2.10 m. It is bounded by orthostates inclined towards the interior, the gaps between which are filled with dry-stone walling. The entrance is formed by two slabs whose upper parts partly overlap, leaving a triangular opening at the base 0.50 m wide and 1 m high. A broken slab (0.80 m by 0.64 m) found in front of the opening probably corresponds to the original door; it has a notch in its upper part. The end slab is slightly taller than the side slabs, so the height under the slab reaches 1.88 m at the entrance and 2.10 m at the rear. The whole is covered by a single oval capstone (3.50 m by 2.50 m and 0.22 m thick), which overhangs the antechamber by 1.20 m. The floor of the chamber is covered with rough paving, while the floor of the antechamber was probably of beaten earth.

The dolmen shows very close architectural similarities to a neighbouring dolmen, the dolmen des Feuilles.

The archaeological layer, covered with a layer of small stones, yielded an important assemblage in all parts of the dolmen, but the antechamber proved the richest. More than 50 Kg of very fragmented human bones and about 2 270 intact teeth were recovered during the excavations.

The flint material is abundant: 2 large fine blades and 6 broad blades, 2 daggers, 8 microlithic fragments, 2 fragments of arrowheads (1 of them with a tang), 12 scrapers and 253 fragments and flakes of various kinds. The bone industry consists of 18 awls made from rabbit tibiae.

Items of personal ornament are numerous: more than 80 beads (of steatite, callaïs, calcite and bronze) and about twenty pendants (perforated animal teeth and shell). The pottery consists of fragments of poorly fired vessels with very simple decoration (raised cords and deep incisions), corresponding to a minimum of 11 vessels. The finds are kept at the museum and depot at Lattes.