statues-menhirs des Ardaliès

The statues were carved from slabs of Permian sandstone of local origin, a rather friable stone. They are small, below the average size of the statues of the Rouergat group.

Statue no. 1 is a complete male statue. The face is in good condition, although more eroded in its upper part, and the back is well preserved. It is engraved. Its anthropomorphic features are the face (eyes, nose, tattoos), arms, hands and disjointed legs, with the toes clearly visible. It wears a belt with a buckle, represented by a cupule, and a baldric with a ring, also a cupule, on both front and back.

Statue no. 2 is very fragmentary and is both sculpted and engraved. Only the right arm, the hands and part of the left leg remain. It is a male statue that was made female by the engraving of breasts, of which only the right survives. It has several features unique among all statue-menhirs: the hands show the phalanges, the belt is decorated with crosshatching on both front and back, and the scabbard of the baldric is decorated with very fine chevrons that may represent braiding. On the back a shoulder blade and the baldric strap are visible.

Statue no. 3 has lost its upper part. It is engraved and has a belt, two legs and a right foot. The absence of sexual features or attributes means its sex cannot be determined. Statue no. 4 survives only as its central section, with both sides badly damaged. It is engraved, and a belt is the only visible attribute, so its sex cannot be determined. Statue no. 5 also survives only as its central section, with both sides badly damaged. It is sculpted; the legs are partly visible, and it has a belt and an incomplete bifid dorsal baldric.

Statue no. 6 survives only as its upper half and is a female statue, engraved by pecking. The face is partly effaced, but the eyes, the nose and part of the tattoos are visible. The hands surround a pecked area whose meaning is undetermined, and the start of the legs can be seen. The very broad hair is atypical, the shoulder-blade hooks are absent, and the belt has a buckle. Statue no. 7 survives only as lower fragments. It is engraved, and only the lower part of the legs and the feet are visible; its sex cannot be determined.

Statue no. 8 survived only as a small lower fragment, 0.30 m in size, showing a leg, a foot and a belt. It is engraved. Statue no. 9 is the smallest of the Rouergat group. It is complete and in very good condition, and was engraved and then sculpted. The face has eyes and tattoos, the legs are together and the toes are visible. Originally male, it was made female by enlarging the ring of the original baldric to form the right breast, with the left breast added by engraving. The belt is decorated with a chevron motif. On the back the right shoulder blade, part of the left, and a baldric with a ring are visible.

All nine statues were discovered by Charles Pessayre between 1971 and 1975, in a field on a promontory overlooking the valley of the Dourdou.