Dolmen at Saint-Michel-de-Llotes
The dolmens at Saint-Michel-de-Llotes are located on the summit of Serrat d'En Jacques, a hill in the southeastern municipality of Saint-Michel-de-Llotes , on the border with Caixas , west of Perpignan , in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France and are of the Dolmens du Roussillon type . The " dolmen with a corridor ( French dolmen à couloir" ) and their platform-like stone mounds were excavated and restored in 1996 by Jean-Phillipe Bocquenet. In France, dolmen is the generic term for megalithic structures of all kinds (see: French nomenclature ).
Dolmen of the Creu de la Llosa
The dolmen, also known as the Dolmen du Creu de la Falibe, is located in a somewhat out-of-round pile of rocks made of slate nine meters in diameter, which is surrounded by large curbs. ( Location ) The south-east-north-west oriented dolmen consists of two parallel rows of bearing stones that support a ceiling slab measuring 1.95 m × 1.3 m. Their thickness varies between 15 and 25 cm. The rectangular chamber is about 2.0 m long and 0.9 m wide and high. The northeast side consists of two panels. One is 1.0 m long and 0.6 m high. The second is 0.9 m long and broken off at a height of 0.3 m. The other side consists of three 1.0 m high slabs that are 0.97, 0.73 and 1.2 m long and are likely the result of splitting a single slab. They overlap in the middle area. The end plate in the north is 1.24 m long. As a result of deliberate destruction, their height is 0.5 m. It is wider than the chamber and integrated in the stone pedestal. On the south side, the chamber is not completely closed by a 1.3 m long, inclined plate. It has a lower height than the side support stones. The six bearing stones are between 10 and 20 cm thick.
The top plate has about 135 bowls on its surface ( French Pierres aux écuelles or pierre à cupules ), mostly with a diameter between two and eight centimeters. The largest bowl is 14 cm in diameter and 8 cm deep. Two deep long grooves connect a number of bowls together. Groups of shells are connected in a cross shape by grooves, and there are also numerous groove-shaped cross representations.
The dolmen was looted a long time ago. The ceramic shards found in the stone pedestal were used during the Bronze Age (1500–850 BC). Fragments of Terra Sigillata indicate a local presence during the Roman period.
Dolmen of Serrat d'En Jacques
The “en” (or “en”) in the name is the masculine form of a person. "En Jacques" is a man named "Jacques". “Na”, on the other hand, is the female short form of “Dona” in Catalan and can be found at Dolmen Na Cristiana .
The dolmen is located in a somewhat out of round cairn made of slate chunks 10 meters in diameter, which is framed by curbs. ( Location ) The slightly trapezoidal chamber consists of two rows of three supporting stones each. The south-east-north-west oriented dolmen has a chamber height of about 1.2 m. The east wall of the chamber is 2.3 m long and the west wall 2.15 m. The plate thickness is between 10 and 20 cm. The end stone in the north is lower than the side walls and has a width of 65 cm. The entrance to the southeast is closed by two smaller panels that formed a line before they broke. The chamber is extended to the south by a 2.5-meter-long side corridor made of dry brickwork and lined with large slabs, which runs to the edge of the cairn.
The front part of the chamber is covered by a large plate. A plate, which may have served to cover the rear chamber area, lies on the cairn. A bowl with a diameter of 15 cm and a number of irregularly distributed smaller bowls, which may be of natural origin, can be seen on the plate. The corridor had no cover. It is currently unclear whether the system was longer. It may be that the dolmen originally included the hallway area and restoring this area as a corridor is risky.
P. Pönisch's excavation yielded ceramics from the bell- beaker culture and the Bronze Age. Two 11 cm diameter cups were found in the chamber. One is spherical with a handle and 9 cm high. The ceramics were made between the beginning of the Copper Age (2500 BC) and the Middle Bronze Age (1100 BC), from which two small bronze rings were found.
Dolmen Al Fournas
The Dolmen Al Fournas (also called Dolmen of Puig del Fornas) was discovered in 1976 and was the subject of a rescue excavation by Henry Vogt in the same year. The dolmen is located in a very non-circular cairn six meters in diameter made of two levels of differently sized slate chunks, which was framed by curb stones and slabs. ( Location ) The gaps are filled with dry masonry. The north-south oriented Allée couverte has an almost rectangular chamber with a length of two meters, a width of 0.7 m and a height of 1.0 m. The covered area consists of one large slab on the west side and two slabs on the east side. Of the entrance, which consists of one meter high stones (chamber height), five have been preserved and about as many are missing. At the back of the chamber, the stones are tilted backwards. The chamber is covered by two large slabs of slate. The front cover plate has numerous bowls. Two groups of four bowls are connected by lines to form two crosses. The corridor, which is over three meters long, consists of several vertical slabs of the same height as the bearing stones of the chamber. The spaces between them are made of dry masonry.
The ceramic fragments found in the cairn during the excavation correspond to those in the chamber. Most were found in the back of the chamber. They belong to a large pitcher with a handle and a vessel of the Middle Bronze Age (1200-1000 v. Chr.), As a re-use took place of the dolmen. The fragment with a spout dates from the Middle Ages.
See also
literature
- Jean Clottes: Dolmens et Menhirs du Midi. Edition Loubatiéres, Portet-sur-Garonne 1987, ISBN 2-86266-048-5 , ( Terres du Sud 26).
Map with all coordinates: