Necropolis in the Bois des Géantes

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The midi dolmens

The necropolis in the Bois des Géantes ( German  "Gigantenwald" ) forms the intersection of the distribution of three types of dolmen of the Midi . It is located near Bourg-Saint-Andéol , in the triangle between the Rhone and the lower reaches of the Ardèche in the Ardèche department . The facilities are part of the "Dolmens de l'Ardèche", which with 800 dolmens form the second largest megalithic area behind Brittany . In France, dolmen is the generic term for megalithic structures of all kinds (see: French nomenclature ). In the Bois des Géantes you will find:

  • Dolmens of the Caussenard type (No. 2, 3 and 6; easy and aisle-free)
  • Languedocian dolmens (nos. 1 and 5; more complex and with a passage)
  • Dolmen of the Bas-Rhodanien type (No. 4; with dry stone walls)

In addition, the Angoumoisin type is represented in the Midi and Catalonia .

The level of knowledge has expanded astonishingly in recent years. While in the Bois des Géantes it was previously assumed that there were 40 to 50 monuments within a radius of 10 km, more than 90 must now be assumed. If one adds the objects known from the older literature, but which have since run out, a “dolm density” is achieved in the departments of Ardéche, Lozère, Aveyron, Hérault and Lot with 780 structures, which exceeds that of Brittany . In the Ardéche there are four main distribution areas in Bas-Vivarais, the south of the department:

  • Dolmen in the Bois des Géantes

  • Dolmen 1

  • Dolmen 2

  • Dolmen 3

  • Dolmen 4

  • Dolmen 5

During the excavations in the Bois des Géantes it was confirmed that building sites had been selected that met two conditions. The lime substrate was higher there than in the surrounding area and there was a larger depression immediately next to it. The dolmen was built in this “pit”, which may have been artificially expanded. The chamber gained stability by wedging the space between the rock and the rock with plates. The choice of location was economical, because the stone mound built above the chamber included the natural elevation.

On undisturbed hills the surface consists of slabs of lime sloping outwards that overlap like roof tiles. On the other hand, the hills do not only consist of such stone layers. Rather, there was evidence of a change between slab layers and layers of earth and small stones.

An attraction was the discovery of a cultural layer with numerous finds (pottery shards, bones and flint tools) under one of the hills. An old topsoil with humus has been preserved through the stone mound, protected from erosion. While it was previously assumed that the karst landscape on the lower Ardéche was as it is today during the Neolithic Age , this excavation showed that the environmental destruction occurred later than the dolmen construction that took place around 5000 years ago .

Dolmens, the longitudinal panels of which were a little too short, were supplemented with dry stone masonry. It seems plausible that the dolmen builders in regions without panel material came up with the idea of ​​replacing the longitudinal panels with dry masonry. It also fits that the type "bas-rhodanien" has always been considered a late phenomenon.

See also

literature

  • Wolfgang Pape, Bernard Gély: La nécropole dolménique des Géantes a Bourg-Saint-Andéol (Ardèche). In: Bulletin des Amis de l'Histoire de la région de Vallon , 2005, pp. 139-145.

Web links

Commons : Dolmens du Bois des Géantes  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 44 ° 22 ′ 4 ″  N , 4 ° 34 ′ 48 ″  E