Dolmen in the Maine-et-Loire department

Distribution of dolmens in Maine-et-Loire - preserved structures are green

Distribution of the angevin type dolmens - dark green = center in the Maine-et-Loire department

The dolmens in the Maine-et-Loire department are divided into six categories. Most of the dolmens in the Maine-et-Loire department are located in the roughly congruent historical Anjou , in the lower Loire Valley , at the crossroads of megalithic influences between Aremorica (Allée couvertes bretonnes) and the Parisian basin (Allées SOM, the Seine-Oise-Marne culture ). In France, dolmen is the generic term for Neolithic megalithic structures of all kinds (see: French nomenclature ).

Classification of the dolmens

• Cairns with several chambers: In 1997, to the west of a courtyard, below the remains of the old castle of Angers , a c. 4500 BC. Cairn erected from slate slabs . It contained four or five chambers and was about seventeen meters in diameter.

• Simple dolmens; In the almost square or rectangular simple dolmen, a capstone rests on some supporting stones. Five identifiable preserved dolmens correspond to this type in Anjou.

1. Pierre du Crapeau (also Pierre des Fées, La Huche du Diable, Pierre-du-Crapeauch) in Baugé ;
2. Pierre couverte de la Planche or Dolmen of Gué au Poirier in Broc
3. Dolmen de l'Aurière in Chigné (and menhir);
4. Dolmen de la Maison des Fées in Miré ;
5. Pierre du Ruau in Saulgé-l'Hôpital .

• Polygonal Dolmens: Similar to the dolmen, simple but generally larger, with more supporting stones that form angles and give them a polygonal appearance.

1. Pierre couverte by Montbenault , in Beaulieu-sur-Layon ;
2. Dolmen des Mollières , in Beauvau
3. Dolmen des Varennes de Cumeray 1 , at Le Thoureil .
4. Dolmen de Chantepierre, in Broc

• Allées couvertes consist of several capstones that rest on some upright supporting stones and delimit a long and narrow space. Two of these monuments are in Champtocé-sur-Loire :

1. Dolmen du Champ-du-Ruisseau
2. Dolmen de la Romme .

• Megalithossuaries or hypogeae are defined as a semi-subterranean monument dug into the rock to serve as a collective burial site. The ossuary of Brézé and Courléon and the hypogeum of Bois-Brard in Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Florent near Saumur are perfect examples.

• Angevin-type dolmen is the name given to wide, sometimes high, rectangular chambers with a narrower and lower trilith portal . They are divided into two categories. The short square or almost square type A. The long rectangular type B with access in the east, often precisely in the southeast. Type B is the most common type of dolmen in the region: it makes up 42% of dolmens, of which 55% are found in the Saumur region. Examples are:

1. Pierre Couverte de Saugré
2. Pierre Couverte du Mousseau

15 dolmens in Maine-et-Loire cannot be classified due to their conservation status.

resources

There is a relationship between the number of dolmens in an area and the available stone material. Therefore, the vast majority of megaliths in the department are made up of Senonian-Eocene sandstone . The sandstone banks are on the slopes, especially on the edge of the Loire. They are relatively easy to remove and make it possible to build dolmens. This is the reason for the 34 hanging dolmens. There is also Silurian sandstone around Segré . In the Mauges , the eruption rocks dominate (granite; as in the menhir La Grande Pierre Levée de la Bretelliére ). Finally, in the northeast of the Baugeois, there are millstone monuments (Meulière (Géologie)).

See also

• Dolmen in the Lot department

literature

• Michel Gruet, Charles-Tanguy Le Roux (editor): Mégalithes en Anjou , Cheminements, [Le Coudray-Macouard] 2005, ISBN 2-84478-397-X ; (Extended new edition by: Michel Gruet: Inventaire des mégalithes de la France , Vol. 2: Maine-et-Loire , Editions du Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1967.)