Fort Bevaux necropolis
The Neolithic necropolis of Fort Bevaux ( French Nécropole de Fort Bévaux ) is located on the edge of a plateau in a forest, west of the town of Andelot-Blancheville in the Haute-Marne department in France . It was discovered by George Loberot in 1928 and examined by Jean-Claude Etienne in 1973. The necropolis, which is around 1000 m long and up to 250 m wide, is attractive because of its size. The first documented use of the place took place around 3000 BC. Chr.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, numerous enclosures, dry stone huts , ramparts, more than 100 tumuli and a dolmen have been discovered. In France, dolmen is the generic term for Neolithic megalithic structures of all kinds (see: French nomenclature ).
The dolmen la Pierre qui Tourne
The almost square dolmen simple in the west of the necropolis is surrounded by a 1.5 m high, oval tumulus about 12.0 m long and 9.0 m wide. The chamber is about 1.4 m long and 1.0 m wide. It consists of two pairs of parallel bearing stones on which a square ceiling slab weighing around 2.0 tons rests. The bearing stone in the north leaves a gap that served as an entrance. The excavation has revealed heavily fragmented bones. The teeth made it possible to determine the number of burials with 22 adults and at least nine children under ten years of age. The scanty additions are limited to an arrowhead and some ceramic shards. This made it possible to assign the grave to the bell beaker culture. Fragments of a bronze vase come from a later reuse .
The stone boxes
The excavations from 1973 to 1974 contributed to the discovery of stone burial mounds with stone boxes ( French Coffre mégalithique ). The stone boxes lie in low round, oval or elongated tumuli about 6.5 m in diameter or over 20.0 m in length.
- Tumulus 1 is located about 100 m northwest of the dolmen. The stone box is 2.4 m long, 1.6 m wide and 1.0 m high. The entrance was protected by a small dry stone wall. The excavation revealed bone fragments, flint tools and uncharacteristic ceramic shards.
- Tumulus 2 has no internals.
- Tumulus 3 is located about 10 m from the dolmen. It contains a stone box measuring 2.4 × 1.0 m, which contained some bone fragments, a flint scraper and a small block of hematite .
- Tumulus 4 is located about 20 m from the dolmen. It contains a stone box in the middle and one in the eastern part. The middle one is rectangular (1.3 × 1.0 m), delimited on three sides by slabs and on the east side (entrance side) by a stone wall. The grave goods consist of some flint and bone fragments, some of which are burnt. The second stone box was perpendicular to the first. Their architecture is similar; but it is larger (2.0 by 1.0 m). The excavation revealed two archaeological layers that were covered with limestone flakes.
- Tumulus 5 is located about 30 m from the dolmen. It contains a stone box of 1.6 × 1.0 m, which is surrounded by plates on all four sides. The two archaeological layers are separated by limestone flakes. The find material consisted of bone fragments and a dozen ceramic shards.
- Tumulus 6, a few meters away, has a box delimited by three plates.
None of the sometimes incomplete stone boxes, which are equipped with 3 to 9 side panels of different sizes, have preserved a top panel. In the case of a box, there are two boulders on the side in front of the chamber .
literature
- Eric Mahieu: Itinéraires mégalithiques - La Haute-Marne , Theix, Actilia Multimédia, 2005, ( ISBN 2-915097-06-2 ), pp. 29-33
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 14 ′ 14 ″ N , 5 ° 15 ′ 16 ″ E