Dolmen dit La Pierre couverte de Mousseau
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmen dit La Pierre couverte de Mousseau, located in Les Ulmes (Maine-et-Loire), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Les Ulmes, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.2216, -0.1716
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00109392
A discreet megalithic vestige of the Anjou bocage, the Pierre Couverte de Mousseau has stood with its colossal slab in Les Ulmes for over five thousand years, a silent testimony to the first builders of the Loire Valley.
History
In the heart of the gentle hills of the Saumur region, away from the main tourist routes, the covered stone of Mousseau emerges from the bocage like an anchor point between the world of the living and that of the dead. This dolmen, soberly listed as a Historic Monument in 1984, is part of a remarkable archipelago of megalithic monuments that makes Maine-et-Loire one of the richest areas in France for Neolithic monuments, on a par with Morbihan and Poitou. What makes this monument so special is precisely its discretion. Where other Anjou dolmens have been absorbed by urban development or denatured over the centuries, the Pierre Couverte de Mousseau remains set in an almost unchanged agricultural landscape, surrounded by hedgerows and fields that have been farmed since Antiquity. The massive roof slab rests on its supports with an architectural sobriety that owes nothing to chance: the Neolithic builders had perfect mastery of the local geology, selecting blocks of tufa and Armorican sandstone for their solidity and accessibility. The visitor experience is one of silence. There are no illuminated signs or crowds here. You approach the monument along a country lane, walk slowly around it and place your hand on the cold rock. The cover slab, known as the "table", overlooks a burial chamber, the floor of which has yielded bone remains and pottery dating from the 4th or 3rd millennium BC in other comparable dolmens in the region. The site invites contemplation rather than demonstration. In the verdant setting of Les Ulmes, a commune nestling between Doué-la-Fontaine and Saumur, this dolmen is part of a network of megalithic sites that prehistory enthusiasts can link up in a day's exploration. For photographers, the low-angled light of morning or evening reveals all the plastic power of the stone and draws long shadows on the grassy ground. For families, it's a great opportunity to introduce children to the long history that precedes castles and cathedrals by several millennia.
Architecture
The Pierre couverte de Mousseau belongs to the family of simple dolmens, or single-chamber dolmens, characteristic of megalithism in western France. Its canonical structure comprises a horizontal covering slab - the table - resting on several orthostats, the vertical blocks set in the earth that delimit the burial chamber. This type of architecture, stripped down but with formidable static efficiency, illustrates the empirical mastery of mechanics by Neolithic populations. The materials used are those of the local geological substratum: Armorican sandstone and shell tufa, two rocks that are omnipresent in the subsoil of the Saumur region. Tuffeau, a soft, light-coloured limestone, is easy to extract but fragile when exposed to the elements; sandstone, which is harder, offers greater resistance. The combination of these two materials in a single monument is common in the dolmens of Maine-et-Loire, with builders adapting their choice to local availability and structural constraints. The roof slab, generally the most spectacular piece, is probably several metres long and significantly thick, weighing several tonnes. The orientation of the chamber, often facing the rising or setting sun in Western megalithic traditions, contributes to the cosmological dimension of the building. The absence of an access corridor distinguishes this type of simple dolmen from the large monuments with corridors (covered walkways) also found in Anjou. The chamber, accessible from one end, was probably closed off by a removable bedside slab, allowing successive burials. Now that any earthen mounds that may have originally covered it have been removed, the dolmen stands in its bare stone frame.
Related Figures
Communautés néolithiques du bassin de la Loire (IVe-IIIe millénaire av. J.-C.) — bâtisseurs anonymes du monumentÉrudits angevins du XIXe siècle — antiquaires et membres de sociétés savantes ayant contribué au recensement des mégalithes du Maine-et-LoireInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques (1984) — responsables de l'inscription officielle et de la protection légale du dolmen
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmen dit La Pierre couverte de Mousseau located?
Dolmen dit La Pierre couverte de Mousseau is located in Les Ulmes, Maine-et-Loire department, Pays de la Loire region, France.
Is Dolmen dit La Pierre couverte de Mousseau open to visitors?
Dolmen dit La Pierre couverte de Mousseau is currently closed to visitors.