Dolmen de la Motte de la Jacquille

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The Dolmen de la Motte de la Jacquille , also known as the Chateaurenaud Tumulus, in the municipality of Fontenille in the north of the Angoumois, is a megalithic tomb . It is located on a hill that can be seen from afar. The burial mound ( tumulus ) is still largely preserved. Therefore, the complex is also known as the tumulus de la Motte de la Jacquille , where ( French ) " Motte " refers to the hill. The facility is located at 112.30 m above sea level. A partial reconstruction of the grave entrance is in the Musée d'Angoulême . The dolmen has been registered as a monument historique since 1991 .

In France, dolmen is the generic term for Neolithic megalithic structures of all kinds (see: French nomenclature ).

Dolmen de La Jacquille - door stone with left-hand tenons

Discovery story

The hill was used as a lookout during the German occupation of France. Perhaps it served this purpose earlier, as the discovery of a Roman copper coin of the Diva Faustina suggests. There are also traces of numerous modern fireplaces on the hill.

The dolmen was examined by the Abbé Michon in 1848 ; further excavations followed in 1862, 1865, 1881, 1899 and 1976; the knowledge gained was published in extremely short reports. Treasure hunters also got to work on the building. An excavation by Edmond Gauron in 1981/82 brought to light skeletal remains, ceramics from the end Neolithic Artenac group and worked flint , including blades, scrapers , cross cutters and stemmed arrowheads .

background

The people of the middle Neolithic (around 3500-2900 BC) inhabited the river valleys and clearings of southwest France. They buried some of their dead in large stone graves , which - often in an exposed position on a hill - were covered by a tumulus of small stones and earth. Sometimes the entrances to these grave structures were blocked, but usually remained accessible for further burials.

architecture

The passage grave has a passage made of larger and smaller stones. The walls of the rectangular burial chamber were formed by eleven limestone orthostats . They are a maximum of 1.90 to 1.5 m high, up to 2.25 m wide, with a thickness between 0.12 and 0.2 m. The capstone of the chamber is missing, so for a long time the tomb was open to the sky. the burial chamber was closed by a movable monolithic door stone, smoothly hewn on both sides, with lateral tenons anchored in the threshold stone and in the lintel . This stone door about 0.85 m wide, about 1.10 m high, 0.15 m thick and weighing about 250 kg could probably only be opened by two or three people together. Above the megalithic grave there is a tumulus with a diameter of approx. 31 m and a height of 2.80 m.

Skeletal remains were found in the chamber, which could be assigned to a total of 24 people; In addition, a few ceramic shards , flint artifacts and jewelry beads were found.

Dating

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Due to the exact stone processing of the door stone and the lateral orthostats of the burial chamber, the complex was built between 3500 and 2900 BC. Dated.

The Artenac group is usually established between 3000/2900 and 2100/1750 BC. Dated. The stalked arrowheads are typical of the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age , the cross cutter for the older Middle Neolithic, especially the Chasseen . It is not clear whether the arrowheads found in the access area are older, contemporary or younger than the dolmen and the other finds.

Nearby sites

literature

Web links

Commons : Dolmen de La Jacquille  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gauron E., Massaud J. Le dolmen de la Motte de la Jacquille (commune de Fontenille, Charente). Un élément architectural inédit. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 84/2, 1987, 60; doi: https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.1987.9810
  2. ^ Motte de la Jacquille, Fontenille in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  3. ^ Gauron E., Massaud J. Le dolmen de la Motte de la Jacquille (commune de Fontenille, Charente). Un élément architectural inédit. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 84/2, 1987, 60; https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.1987.9810
  4. ^ Gauron E., Massaud J. Le dolmen de la Motte de la Jacquille (commune de Fontenille, Charente). Un élément architecturalinédit. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 84/2, 1987, 60; doi: https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.1987.9810 , without specifying which of the two possible namesake it is
  5. ^ Gauron E., Massaud J. Le dolmen de la Motte de la Jacquille (commune de Fontenille, Charente). Un élément architectural inédit. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 84/2, 1987, 60; doi: https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.1987.9810
  6. ^ Gauron E., Massaud J., Le dolmen de la Motte de la Jacquille (commune de Fontenille, Charente). Un élément architectural inédit. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 84/2, 1987, 63; doi: https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.1987.9810
  7. ^ Gauron E., Massaud J., Le dolmen de la Motte de la Jacquille (commune de Fontenille, Charente). Un élément architectural inédit. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 84/2, 1987, 61; doi: https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.1987.9810
  8. ^ Gauron E., Massaud J. Le dolmen de la Motte de la Jacquille (commune de Fontenille, Charente). Un élément architectural inédit. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 84/2, 1987, 60; doi: https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.1987.9810
  9. ↑ Claude Burnez, Pierrick Fouéré, Catherine Louboutin, Artenac et Campaniforme dans le Center-Ouest de la France. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 95/3, 1998, 303. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27921460
  10. ^ Gauron E., Massaud J., Le dolmen de la Motte de la Jacquille (commune de Fontenille, Charente). Un élément architectural inédit. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 84/2, 1987, 63, https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.1987.9810

Coordinates: 45 ° 54 ′ 27 ″  N , 0 ° 10 ′ 5 ″  E