Dolmen dit la Pierre-Levée
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmen dit la Pierre-Levée, located in Lentillac-du-Causse (Département 46), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Lentillac-du-Causse, Département 46, Occitanie
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.5532, 1.6477
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00095133
Standing on the limestone plateaux of the Lot department, the Pierre-Levée at Lentillac-du-Causse is a Neolithic dolmen, its massive slab defying the passage of millennia, a silent witness to a forgotten megalithic civilisation.
History
In the heart of the Causse de Gramat, in a landscape of pale limestone and sparse vegetation carved by the winds since the dawn of time, stands the Pierre-Levée de Lentillac-du-Causse. This Neolithic dolmen, whose popular name alone says it all - a raised stone, suspended between heaven and earth by the sheer will of man - belongs to that family of monuments that fascinate as much as they question. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1989, it stands out as one of the oldest pages in the Lot's heritage. What makes this monument truly unique is, first and foremost, the quality of its preservation in a geological environment that has been conducive to its development. The causse, a dry limestone soil, preserves the megalithic structures with remarkable fidelity. The covering slab, supported by its orthostates - the large vertical slabs that make up the burial chamber - has a characteristic silhouette that peasants in the Middle Ages and travellers in later centuries long attributed to giants or fairies. This type of monument, known as a single chamber or corridor depending on its configuration, is the most accomplished expression of Middle Neolithic funerary architecture in south-western France. To visit the Pierre-Levée at Lentillac-du-Causse is to agree to slow down. The site has to be earned: you approach it on foot, along paths lined with juniper and downy oak, in the almost absolute silence of the causse. The low, golden morning light reveals the rough texture of the limestone, the grey-green lichens that colonise the stones and the shadows cast by the slabs on the rocky ground. It's as much an experience of contemplation as of archaeological discovery. The surrounding setting adds to the emotion of the place. The karstic plateau of the Causse de Gramat, dotted with lapiaz, dolines and ancient bories, forms a timeless backdrop that naturally extends the meditation in front of these standing stones. Just a few kilometres away, the village of Lentillac-du-Causse retains the silhouette of a causse village, and the region offers a wealth of prehistoric and medieval sites that make for a veritable journey through time.
Architecture
The Pierre-Levée at Lentillac-du-Causse belongs to the most widespread architectural type of megalithic structure in the Lot: the simple dolmen with a rectangular or trapezoidal chamber, made up of a series of orthostats - large vertical slabs of limestone from the causse - supporting a horizontal covering slab, the table. This remarkably economical construction scheme focused all its energy on solving a unique problem: covering and protecting a burial space using the abundant local lithic resources available on the karstic plateau. The materials used were exclusively Jurassic limestone from the Causse, quarried in the immediate vicinity of the site. This local stone is dense and resistant, and has the advantage of being cut naturally into large, regular slabs that are particularly well-suited to megalithic construction. The patina of the centuries - crustacean lichens, iron oxidation, wind erosion - gives the blocks a golden to grey-beige hue that is characteristic of Quercy monuments. The roof slab, the most spectacular element of the whole, probably covers an area of several square metres and is of significant thickness, guaranteeing the structural stability of the building. As with most of the dolmens in the region, the orientation of the monument probably follows an east-west or north-east/south-west axis, allowing the light of the rising sun to penetrate the chamber during the equinoxes and solstices - an arrangement that suggests an intentional relationship between funerary architecture and cosmic cycles. The ensemble originally rested on a prepared floor, and the chamber may have been preceded by an access corridor, now perhaps obliterated by erosion and subsequent remodelling.
Related Figures
Bâtisseurs néolithiques du Causse de Gramat (Ve-IIIe millénaire av. J.-C.) — communautés agropastorales anonymes à l'origine du monumentÉrudits de la Société des études du Lot (XIXe siècle) — premiers inventaires scientifiques des mégalithes lotoisÉdouard Lartet (1801-1871) — paléontologue et préhistorien lotois qui contribua à la reconnaissance du mégalithisme régionalÉmile Cartailhac (1845-1921) — archéologue toulousain, pionnier de la préhistoire dans le Sud-Ouest, auteur de synthèses sur les dolmens du Quercy
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmen dit la Pierre-Levée located?
Dolmen dit la Pierre-Levée is located in Lentillac-du-Causse, Département 46 department, Occitanie region, France.
Is Dolmen dit la Pierre-Levée open to visitors?
Dolmen dit la Pierre-Levée is currently closed to visitors.
