Pierre-Couverte

Pierre-Couverte is a dolmen on the former commune of Pontigné, in the French department of Maine-et-Loire. It is a characteristic example of the Angevin type and is considered one of the finest dolmens in the department. The monument is protected as a historic monument, a status granted in 1910.

The burial chamber is rectangular and opens to the east. It is preceded by a trilithic porch and bounded by six orthostats, with two large covering slabs above it. An upright slab near the southern porch pillar may have formed the closing stone of the entrance. The entire structure is made from Eocene sandstone slabs sourced from a local deposit.

The dolmen is dated by typological estimate to 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE. The chamber was excavated in 1872 by M. Lebœuf, who recovered bone fragments, two polished sandstone hammers, three worked flint flakes, and a piece of coarse black pottery. Six polished axes were also found within five-cents meters of the dolmen.

Local folklore says that a ploughshare and a silver coin placed beneath the dolmen will be found the next day, sharpened if the coin is sufficient and unsharpened if it is not. Another tradition holds that couples entering together may find happiness there. Animals that approach too closely are said to be taken away by the fairies.

Pierre-Couverte is a dolmen in Baugé-en-Anjou, 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 (Pontigné)", shown in the original language.