Allée couverte des Vaux-Louvets
The Allée couverte des Vaux-Louvets (also called Allée Couverte von Vaudancourt) was west of Montjavoult (south of the Oise ), near Beauvais in the Oise department in Picardy in France . The gallery grave was discovered by soldiers in 1915 and disappeared in the middle of the 20th century. The (buried) remains are in Vaudancourt , in a field 250 meters west of the D 6 road.
description
There is a map of the monument and a photo of Léon Coutil (1856–1943), who led the excavations in 1918 and 1919. It is a gallery without overlying cover plates with a plate with a soul hole as access. The soul hole has a diameter of 58 cm and a fold for inserting a (not found) closure plate. The gallery is the longest discovered on the Oise . Another from the time of the Seine-Oise-Marne culture (SOM), but also expired megalithic complex with comparable dimensions was located in L'Étang-la-Ville ( Allée couverte by Cher Arpent ) in the Yvelines department .
The total length is about 18.0 meters. 3.3 m of this is accounted for by the antechamber and 14.7 m by the main chamber. The inner width of the antechamber is 1.85 m and that of the chamber varies from 1.75 m to 1.85 m. According to Leon Coutil, the maximum height of the vertical bearing stones is around 2.1 m. One wall of the antechamber is made of dry masonry .
During the excavations, from top to bottom, it was noted:
- an upper intact panel layer;
- a dense and abundant layer of bone;
- a second discontinuous panel layer with scorch marks;
- A lower layer of bone that has left few marks.
Human bones from around 83 individuals and remains of animal bones from the Neolithic Age , two polished axes, two core stones, four pierced ornaments, a scraper, a flint dagger , antlers and a lot of pottery were found.
A first publication was made in 1915 by J. Pommeret in the newspaper "Le Vexin". Léon Coutil started a preparatory course in autumn 1915. He decided that excavations would be carried out at the end of the war. Nevertheless, he carried out a first search at the end of 1918 because the soldiers, who believed in a hidden treasure, were putting the tomb in danger. He was stopped by frost and started digging again in the spring of 1919. Its results were published later in the year. Coutil took part in another investigation in 1922.
In 1948, in agreement with the owner of the land, a farmer backfilled the monument in order to cultivate the land. The owner was the parish priest and mayor of the city and a member of the archaeological society of Oise. No charges were brought because the monument was not protected, but the man was expelled from the Société archéologique de l'Oise.
literature
- Léon Coutil: Allée couverte des Vaux Louvets à Vaudancourt (Oise) In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française Année 1920 2 pp. 46–47
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 13 ′ 11.9 " N , 1 ° 45 ′ 14.6" E