Dolmens
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmens, located in Bellefond (Gironde), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Bellefond, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.7714, -0.1702
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00083140
A listed Neolithic site since 1889, the Bellefond covered alley with its thousand-year-old orthostats stands in the heart of the Bordeaux region. A collective burial corridor spanning five thousand years of human history.
History
In the heart of the Entre-deux-Mers region, in the Gironde commune of Bellefond, stands one of the oldest stone structures in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region: a Neolithic covered walkway whose colossal slabs have defied time for some five thousand years. Classified as a Historic Monument in 1889, and one of the first megalithic buildings to benefit from this protection in France, this dolmen embodies the stubborn permanence of a sunken world, that of the peasant builders of the Final Neolithic. Far from the great megalithic concentrations of Brittany or Quercy, this Gironde monument is a precious geographical singularity: it bears witness to the southern extension of cultures with collective dry-stone burials, as far as the fertile lands of the Bordeaux region. Its presence on the Libourne limestone plateau illustrates the diversity of the prehistoric peoples who populated the South-West long before the vineyards. Visiting the site is an experience of rare intensity. You first approach the monument with the sensation of perceiving an anomaly in the landscape - these masses of rough stone laid out with intention - before the nature of the building is fully revealed. Entering the corridor, even if only partially preserved, gives you a striking sense of time: you follow the same axis as the bearers of the dead from the Neolithic period, in the same limestone half-light. The surrounding scenery reinforces this sense of time travel. The farmland and wine-growing châteaux that surround Bellefond today only accentuate the contrast with this monument that predates any written civilisation in Western Europe. For the educated visitor, it's also an opportunity to reflect on the continuity of human occupation in this region, which is often thought to have begun only in Roman or medieval times.
Architecture
The Bellefond covered alley belongs to the family of megalithic monuments with a longitudinal plan, characterised by an elongated burial chamber forming a corridor oriented, generally on an east-west or north-south-east axis, presumably in connection with astronomical or ritual concerns. The structure is based on a series of orthostats - vertically-standing stone slabs - arranged in two parallel rows to form the side walls of the corridor, surmounted by horizontal covering tables, the ceiling slabs, some of which can weigh several tonnes. The materials used are characteristic of the local geological substrate: limestone from the Libourne region and sandstone from the Gironde plateau, quarried nearby by percussion and lifting, without the use of metal tools. The size of the blocks, although irregular, testifies to a rigorous selection of stones and remarkable transport and installation logistics for societies with no experience of the wheel or large-scale animal traction. It is estimated that several hundred people worked together for several weeks on comparable monuments. The layout of the building follows the classic pattern of the Final Neolithic covered alleyway: an oriented entrance, a main corridor forming the burial chamber, sometimes preceded by an antechamber or symbolic vestibule. The total length of such a monument in the region is generally around six to twelve metres, with an interior width of one to two metres. The earthen or dry-stone mound that initially covered the whole thing has probably disappeared, leaving the monument's bare lithic bones exposed to the light of day.
Related Figures
Les bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes du Néolithique final (3500-2000 av. J.-C.), communautés agropastorales du BordelaisProsper Mérimée, inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques au XIXe siècle, artisan de la politique nationale de protection du patrimoineLes érudits de la Société Archéologique de Bordeaux, acteurs clés de l'inventaire scientifique des mégalithes girondins au XIXe siècleLes archéologues de la Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles de Nouvelle-Aquitaine, gardiens modernes du monument
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmens located?
Dolmens is located in Bellefond, Gironde department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
Is Dolmens open to visitors?
Dolmens is currently closed to visitors.
