Site archéologique du dolmen des Roques n° 2
MonumentHidden Treasure
Site archéologique du dolmen des Roques n° 2, located in Durbans (Département 46), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Durbans, Département 46, Occitanie
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.6914, 1.7976
- Mérimée Reference
- PA46000053
In the heart of the limestone Quercy region, this Neolithic dolmen of rare integrity reveals its burial chamber and circular cairn with a double crown of slabs - exceptional evidence of the funerary architecture of the megalith builders.
History
Nestling in the wild causses of the Lot, the Roques No. 2 dolmen at Durbans is one of the best-preserved megalithic monuments in the Quercy region. Listed as a Historic Monument in 2012, it offers visitors a direct insight into prehistory, at a time when Neolithic communities fashioned stone to honour their dead and mark the territory of the living. What sets this site apart from the many other dolmens in the Lot is above all the remarkable state of its burial chamber, which faces south-east in accordance with an architectural tradition widespread among megalithic builders. Only the roof slab shows a few fractures, revealing the millennia that have passed without altering the essence of the structure. The whole structure is set in a circular cairn - an organised pile of small limestone stones - encircled by a fascinating double crown of edge slabs planted vertically in the ground. Visiting the site is like coming face-to-face with the Neolithic period. No fences, no crowds: the monument can be discovered in the silence of the Quercy scrublands, between downy oaks and wild lavender. The low-angled light of the morning or late afternoon accentuates the relief of the stones and reveals all the sophistication of an architecture designed to last for eternity. The site is part of a larger group of megalithic monuments scattered across the Durbans plateau, bearing witness to dense, organised human occupation from the 4th millennium BC. To explore this dolmen is also to understand how prehistoric man in Quercy had already mastered geometry, stone mechanics and a sense of collective ritual.
Architecture
The Roques No. 2 dolmen is part of the megalithic dolmenic cairn architecture, a funerary form typical of the Middle and Late Neolithic in south-west France. Its structure is based on a universal principle: orthostats - large vertical slabs of local limestone - form the walls of the burial chamber, on which a horizontal covering slab rests, creating an enclosed space for collective burials. The architectural originality of the monument lies in its outer shell: a circular cairn, a mass of carefully stacked limestone stones, surrounds and protects the chamber. This cairn, which can be up to ten metres in diameter, is remarkably structured by a double ring of slabs set vertically into the ground, forming two concentric rings around the burial chamber. This sophisticated layout betrays successive architectural alterations, with each ring possibly corresponding to a distinct phase of use or enlargement of the monument. The burial chamber faces south-east, a common orientation in the region's megalithic tradition and perhaps linked to solar or cosmological beliefs. The materials used are exclusively local limestone from the causse, which is abundant and easy to extract by natural cutting. Although the roof slab now shows some fractures, the structure as a whole bears witness to remarkable technical mastery, capable of withstanding more than five millennia of weathering and frost.
Related Figures
Bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes du causse de Durbans (IVe-IIIe millénaire av. J.-C.)Communautés chalcolithiques réutilisatrices du monument (IIIe millénaire av. J.-C.)Antiquaires lotois du XIXe siècle, premiers inventoriateurs des mégalithes du QuercyArchéologues de la DRAC Occitanie, responsables de l'instruction du dossier de protection (2012)
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Site archéologique du dolmen des Roques n° 2 located?
Site archéologique du dolmen des Roques n° 2 is located in Durbans, Département 46 department, Occitanie region, France.
Is Site archéologique du dolmen des Roques n° 2 open to visitors?
Site archéologique du dolmen des Roques n° 2 is currently closed to visitors.
