Allée couverte from Tourlaville
The outgoing Allée couverte from Tourlaville (also called Pierres Couplées; Pierre Pouquelée or Lande Saint-Gabriel) was a gallery tomb , about 800 m southeast of the church of Tourlaville on the Cotentin peninsula in the north of the Manche department in Normandy in France .
The gallery grave, recorded on maps from 1830, was mentioned as early as 1773 in a memorandum presented to the Academy of Cherbourg by Victor Avoine de Chantereyne (1762–1834). As Cromlech it is recorded on maps from 1847 and 1854 by Émile de Pontaumont (1807-1892). In 1887 a commander Jouan managed to classify the monument, which in 1899 did not prevent its complete destruction by the military for the construction of a redoubt. Excavations, about which nothing is known, took place in 1773 “in the neighborhood”. At that time, some of the large boulders that made up the monument had already been removed.
With a length of about 16.25 m, the width of the Allée couverte was about 3.6 m. The height is unknown. According to Léon Coutil (1856–1953), the access to the west-east oriented megalithic complex consisted of two stones that were about 1.1 m apart. But this width of the stones that were moved is questionable, since the width went directly to 2.5 m, a dimension that determines the length and even increased to 3.5 m in the east. Originally there were 14 bearing stones on each side. The north side is better preserved and consists of eight bearing stones, while there are five in the south with a gap of 6.5 m. The blocks are about 0.8 to 1.0 m high. In the east, a 1.4 m long stone stands vertically on the axis. It could have been used as an end stone. All capstones have disappeared, except for one that is northwest of the monument. The stone, measuring around 2.0 × 1.5 m, is much larger than all bearing stones. According to L. Coutil, in the east of the monument there is a circular cave created during excavations. All the materials that are used are made of arkose , a sandstone with a high feldspar content that forms the subsoil. Plans were published by Th. Du Moncel in 1773, by Ragonde in 1833, and by Rouxel in 1905. A lithograph was made by E. Tollemer in 1868, and later taken over by Harmons. According to the 1905 plan and the descriptions, the monument appears to belong to a series of long east-west oriented galleries with a narrow vestibule to the west. The access was probably to the west on the axis. Jean L'Helgouach (1933–2000) wants to compare the monument with the “double grave” of the Allée couverte by Kernic .
Nearby is the Allée couverte de la Forge .
literature
- Vincent Carpentier, Emmanuel Ghesquière, Cyril Marcigny: Archéologie en Normandie . Ed .: Inrap. Éditions Ouest-France, Rennes 2007, ISBN 978-2-7373-4164-9 , p. 18 (French).
Web links
- Description and sketches (French)
- Description (French)
- Description (Engl.)
Coordinates: 49 ° 37 '52.7 " N , 1 ° 33' 4.4" W.