Pierre couverte de la planche
DatedEst. 4000–3000 BCE
Photo Kormin · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
La pierre couverte de la Planche, appelée aussi pierre couverte du Gué au Poirier, est un dolmen situé à Broc, dans le département français de Maine-et-Loire.
Article in FrenchRead on Wikipedia3 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
Pierre couverte de la planche: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
Sources for this section
The Pierre couverte de la Planche, also called the pierre couverte du Gué au Poirier, is a dolmen at Broc in the French department of Maine-et-Loire. It is a small megalithic tomb belonging to the tradition of dolmens found across France, where many monuments of this kind date to about 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE.
The monument is made of Eocene limestone and sandstone and measures 2,65 m at its longest. Its mound or tumulus remains visible. The chamber is bordered by two orthostats on the north side and two on the south, with a single circular capstone, about 2 m in diameter, covering the structure.
The dolmen was excavated in 1872 by M. de la Pouèze. He collected bone fragments, pottery, ashes and charcoal. Its estimated date of 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE is based on its type. The structure was registered as a historic monument in 1983.
According to a local legend, the dolmen housed a forge where fairies shaped their tools at night. More generally, dolmens in France 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 "Pierre couverte de la Planche", shown in the original language.
Summary in EnglishSources for this section
Sources for this section
Pierre couverte de la planche is a dolmen in Broc, France. A typological estimate: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Pierre couverte de la Planche", shown in the original language.
ProtectionSources for this section
Sources for this section
L'édifice est inscrit au titre des monuments historiques en 1983.
DescriptionSources for this section
Sources for this section
C'est un petit dolmen simple en calcaire et grès éocène mesurant 2,65 m dans sa plus grande longueur. Le tumulus est encore visible. La chambre est délimitée par deux orthostates côté nord et deux orthostates côté sud. L'ensemble est recouvert par une unique table de couverture de forme circulaire d'environ 2 m de diamètre.
Le dolmen fut fouillé en 1872 par M. de la Pouèze qui y recueillit des fragments d'ossements et de poteries ainsi que des cendres et des charbons.
Selon une légende locale, l'édifice abriterait une forge où les fées y façonneraient leurs outils la nuit.
AnnexesSources for this section
Sources for this section
Bibliographie
: document utilisé comme source pour la rédaction de cet article.
Michel Gruet, Mégalithes en Anjou, Le Coudray-Macouard, Cheminements, 2005 (1re éd. 1967, actualisation de Charles-Tanguy Le Roux), 417 p. (ISBN 2-84478-397-X, lire en ligne), p. 45
Articles connexes
Dolmen de Chantepierre
Sites mégalithiques de Maine-et-Loire
Liste des monuments historiques de Maine-et-Loire
How this page was madeSources for this section
Sources for this section
The summary at the top of this page was written by MiniMax-M3 (2026-11-08) from the cited Wikipedia article “Pierre couverte de la Planche”, 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
- 1872
Le dolmen fut fouillé en 1872 par M. de la Pouèze qui y recueillit des fragments d'ossements et de poteries ainsi que des cendres et des charbons.
Source - 1967
1967, actualisation de Charles-Tanguy Le Roux), 417 p.
Source - 1983
L'édifice est inscrit au titre des monuments historiques en 1983.
Source - 2005
Michel Gruet, Mégalithes en Anjou, Le Coudray-Macouard, Cheminements, 2005 (1re éd.
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
4 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
- 47°34′48″ N, 0°09′11″ EFor a GPS or map app: 47.58006, 0.15314
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.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q3387406wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Lore, kept apart
Legends and claims
These are stories and claims reported by the sources. They are not evidence, and they never stand in for the dating above.
- Tradition
According to a local legend, the dolmen housed a forge where fairies shaped their tools at night.
According to a local legend, the dolmen housed a forge where fairies shaped their tools at night. More generally, dolmens in France 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.
Source - Tradition
C'est un petit dolmen simple en calcaire et grès éocène mesurant 2,65 m dans sa plus grande longueur.
C'est un petit dolmen simple en calcaire et grès éocène mesurant 2,65 m dans sa plus grande longueur. Le tumulus est encore visible. La chambre est délimitée par deux orthostates côté nord et deux orthostates côté sud. L'ensemble est recouvert par une unique table de couverture de forme circulaire d'environ 2 m de diamètre. Le dolmen fut fouillé en 1872 par M. de la Pouèze qui y recueillit des fragments d'ossements et de poteries ainsi que des cendres et des charbons. Selon une légende locale, l'édifice abriterait une forge où les fées y façonneraient leurs outils la nuit.
Source
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Pierre couverte de la Planche" (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