Menhir et dolmen dits L'Aurière
MonumentHidden Treasure
Menhir et dolmen dits L'Aurière, located in Chigné (Maine-et-Loire), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Chigné, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.5865, 0.1400
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00109051
On the edge of Anjou, the L'Aurière site brings together Neolithic menhirs and dolmens in a discreet setting of hedged farmland: a rare testimony to the memory of the standing stone builders of Maine-et-Loire.
History
Perched in the peaceful countryside of Chigné, at the gateway to the Saumur region, the megalithic site of L'Aurière is one of the most authentic in the Maine-et-Loire department. Combining a menhir and a dolmen in the same space, it offers visitors an immediate insight into the Neolithic period in Anjou, a time when farming communities shaped their land in stone as well as in clay. What sets L'Aurière apart from the region's most famous megaliths - the alignments at Carnac, the dolmens in the Sarthe and the menhirs in Morbihan - is precisely its intimacy. Here, there are no crowds or barriers; the stone can be approached, almost touched, in a timeless atmosphere. The menhir, raised like an index finger to the sky, converses with the dolmen in a close relationship that invites reflection on the funerary and cosmic symbolism of these monuments. The visit is above all a sensory experience: the silence of the Anjou bocage, the rustling of the tall grass in summer, the low-angled light of late afternoon revealing the crevices in the granite and the centuries-old lichens embedded in the rock. Photographers will particularly appreciate the golden hours, when the stone takes on golden or bronze hues depending on the season. The rural setting of Chigné, a quiet village in the north of the Maine-et-Loire department, protects the site from excessive tourist development. Access is generally on foot via a farm track, adding to the sense of discovery. For lovers of ancient history, hikers and curious families, this is a place to reflect and marvel at the longevity of these rough stone structures.
Architecture
The L'Aurière site combines two complementary megalithic typologies, characteristic of the funerary and ceremonial architecture of the Neolithic period in Anjou. The menhir - the Breton word for "long stone" - is a monolith of local granite or sandstone set vertically into the ground. Slightly tapered in shape, its irregular surface has been weathered for thousands of years and colonised by grey and orange-coloured lichens. Its height, probably between two and four metres according to regional estimates for this type of building, gives it an immediate visual presence in the hedged landscape. The neighbouring dolmen is of the "covered chamber" type: several orthostats (vertical stones) support one or more horizontal cover slabs, forming an interior space that was the burial chamber. This type of architecture, known as a "simple chamber", is common in Anjou and Maine, unlike the longer, more complex covered walkways found in Brittany. The blocks, which come from local outcrops, bear witness to a remarkable mastery of transporting and using heavy materials, without the use of metal tools. Although modest on the scale of France's major megalithic sites, the ensemble perfectly illustrates the technical mastery and conceptual coherence of the Neolithic builders of the Loire Valley. The co-presence of a menhir and a dolmen on the same site suggests a space with a dual function: a space for the living (the menhir as a symbolic landmark) and a space for the dead (the dolmen as a dwelling place for the ancestors), a duality found at several sites in the region.
Related Figures
Les bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes de la communauté agraire ayant érigé les mégalithes (vers 3500-2500 av. J.-C.)Les érudits angevins du XIXe siècle ayant inventorié les mégalithes du Maine-et-LoireLes membres de la Société d'Agriculture, Sciences et Arts d'Angers, pionniers de l'archéologie préhistorique régionaleRobert de Lasteyrie (1849-1921), archéologue médiéviste dont les travaux sur l'inventaire des monuments anciens influencèrent la protection du patrimoine mégalithique françaisLes agents du Ministère de la Culture ayant instruit le dossier de classement MH en 1983
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Menhir et dolmen dits L'Aurière located?
Menhir et dolmen dits L'Aurière is located in Chigné, Maine-et-Loire department, Pays de la Loire region, France.
Is Menhir et dolmen dits L'Aurière open to visitors?
Menhir et dolmen dits L'Aurière is currently closed to visitors.