Dolmen
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmen, located in Beauregard-et-Bassac (Dordogne), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Beauregard-et-Bassac, Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.9903, 0.6329
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00082357
Classed as a Historic Monument, this Neolithic vestige, the dolmen of Beauregard-et-Bassac, has stood its sandstone slabs in the Périgord for more than 5,000 years, a silent witness to the first stone builders of the Dordogne.
History
In the heart of the Périgord Blanc region, between Bergerac and Périgueux, the Beauregard-et-Bassac dolmen emerges from the hedged farmland with the quiet authority that only time immemorial confers on stone. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1940, it is one of a constellation of megaliths dotting the Dordogne basin, one of the most densely populated areas in European prehistory. This funerary monument, erected in the Neolithic period - probably between 3,500 and 2,500 BC - consists of a chamber formed by several orthostats, large vertical slabs of local limestone on which rests a covering table weighing probably several tonnes. The apparent sobriety of the whole should not be misleading: each stone was chosen, transported and erected with remarkable technical skill by people who had neither metal nor the wheel at their disposal. Visiting the dolmen is an experience of rare intensity. To approach the dolmen is to abolish five millennia of history in just a few steps. The stone, covered in grey and golden lichen, vibrates differently in the light: bluish in the early morning, warm and ochre in the low hours of the afternoon. Fans of heritage photography will find endless material here, while families with children will discover an ideal first contact with archaeology. The immediate surroundings, typical of the Périgord region, enhance the atmosphere of the site. Oak woods, hedged meadows and the gentle limestone plateau make up a setting that has hardly changed since the Neolithic people laid their dead to rest here. Beauregard-et-Bassac, a small village in the Dordogne valley, also offers the proximity of other remarkable heritage sites - decorated caves, medieval fortified towns - for an extended day out.
Architecture
The Beauregard-et-Bassac dolmen belong to the most widespread architectural type in Périgord: the simple funerary chamber with a rudimentary corridor or no corridor, built of local limestone. Its structure is based on the universal principle of the closed-chamber dolmen: several vertical slabs - the orthostates - sunk into the ground or wedged in place by stone fillings, support a horizontal covering slab, the table or capstone, whose mass ensures the stability of the whole by simple equilibrium. In the region, these tables are usually between two and four metres long, one to two metres wide and thirty to sixty centimetres thick, weighing several tonnes. The material used is Périgord limestone, quarried from nearby deposits - a characteristic that distinguishes the dolmens of the Périgord Blanc from their counterparts in the Périgord Noir, which are more often built from ferruginous sandstone. The surface of the slabs, exposed to the elements for thousands of years, has a characteristic patina colonised by crustaceous lichens, offering a palette of greys, beiges and pale greens typical of ancient megaliths. The chamber, whose entrance was originally sealed by a slab, was most likely covered by a mound of earth and gravel that has now disappeared, which explains the bare, 'airy' appearance of most dolmens after centuries of erosion and human removal. The orientation of the monument, frequently studied on European megaliths, follows in the vast majority of cases an east-west axis or towards the rising sun, in accordance with the funerary practices and solar beliefs of Neolithic populations. Although no precise measurements have been published for this particular dolmen, its size can be estimated as average for the Périgord region, consistent with the funerary monuments of a local rural community rather than the large regional megalithic necropolises.
Related Figures
Les bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes du Périgord Blanc (3500-2500 av. J.-C.), artisans collectifs du monumentProsper Mérimée (1803-1870), inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, pionnier de l'inventaire du patrimoine mégalithique françaisGabriel de Mortillet (1821-1898), préhistorien français ayant contribué à la classification des dolmens du Sud-OuestÉdouard Lartet (1801-1871), géologue et paléontologue pionnier de l'archéologie préhistorique en PérigordLes défunts néolithiques collectifs inhumés dans la chambre, anonymes gardiens d'un culte des ancêtres aujourd'hui énigmatique
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmen located?
Dolmen is located in Beauregard-et-Bassac, Dordogne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
Is Dolmen open to visitors?
Dolmen is currently closed to visitors.