Tumulus du Deffends
DatedEst. 4500–3300 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
The tumulus du Deffends, or tombe en blocs du Deffends, is a Neolithic tomb at Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne, in the department of Alpes-Maritimes, France. It lies within an oval mound 7 m long and 6.50 m wide. Excavation produced four skeletons, burnt bones, flint flakes and potsherds attributed to the Bell Beaker culture.
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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
Tumulus du Deffends
It is bounded by eight blocks, one of them broken; a ninth block has been displaced and set back to the south.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Tumulus du DeffendsCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Tumulus du DeffendsCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb is contained within an oval tumulus 7 m long and 6.50 m wide. The tomb itself is slightly oval, 1.50 m wide and 1.70 m long, with a depth of 0.55 m. It is bounded by eight blocks, one of them broken; a ninth block has been displaced and set back to the south. The tomb is oriented east-west.
FindsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Tumulus du DeffendsCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Tumulus du DeffendsCC BY-SA 4.0
Excavation of the tomb yielded four skeletons and burnt bones. The archaeological material was limited to flint flakes and potsherds attributed to the Bell Beaker culture (Campaniforme).
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
French megaliths
The Atlas's general "megalith" records for France cover a range of monuments: dolmens and covered alleys (allées couvertes), menhirs, cromlechs, tumuli, groups of stones, and polissoirs. Some of the oldest monuments in Europe are in western France, and the Carnac stones in Brittany, with more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones, are the largest collection in the world.
A polissoir, "polisher", is a Neolithic stone tool used for polishing and sharpening stone objects, especially axes, adzes and chisels. They date to about 5,000 years ago. Polissoirs are typically large stones with smooth, concave surfaces or grooves, made of hard and abrasive rocks such as sandstone, granite or quartzite, and the surface often shows distinctive wear patterns from the back-and-forth motion used to refine the edges of tools. They come in two types: earthfast, large and immovable and found in their original position, and portable. A polissoir is not strictly a megalith, but it is recorded with them because it is a large stone of the same period.
In the Atlas a record with an unspecified type receives a broad Neolithic range, since it cannot be tied to a particular phase. Many small dolmens survive only as a few stones in a field and cannot be dated closely.
Folklore: La Roche-aux-Fées near Essé takes its name, "the fairies' rock", from a legend that fairies placed the stones.
When visiting, look for the polished grooves on boulders near dolmens, and for the way a capstone is propped.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Carnac stones, Wikipedia: Polissoir, Wikipedia: La Roche-aux-Fées · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 4500–3300 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megaliths in France; this site has not been dated itself. The megaliths of north-west France are among the oldest in Europe; the Carnac stones date from 4500-3300 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
France
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 43°39′01″ N, 6°50′14″ EFor a GPS or map app: 43.65030, 6.83736
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.
Colbas 1 dolmen4000–3000 BCE- Dolmendolmen de l'Aspe4000–3000 BCE
Dolmen de la Graou4000–3000 BCE- Dolmendolmen du Prignon4000–3000 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Tumulus du Prignon5000–3000 BCE
- DolmenSouth Mauvans dolmen and tomb4000–3000 BCE
Lou Serre Dinguille dolmen4000–3000 BCE
South Mauvans tomb4500–3300 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q109046157wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Tumulus du Deffends" (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
- Wikipedia (French): Tumulus du DeffendsCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q109046157CC0