Dolmen of white stones – Wikipedia
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The Dolmen of white stones is located in Castellane, in the French department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
The building was registered as historic monuments in 1994 [ first ] .
The dolmen was built at 1,249 m altitude at the edge of a replat in front of a large and magnificent panorama from north to southwest, which does not seem fortuitous [ 2 ] .
The building and its cairn were built in limestone of local origin, according to a significantly north-south axis, the entrance to south. Its architecture relates it to the group of small Provencal dolmens in the east of Var and the Alpes-Maritimes [ 2 ] .
The room is small (1.75 m long by 1.40 m Large), preceded by a less wide and lower corridor. It is delimited by a large bedside slab in the north and by two orthostats on the south side separated from an interval of approximately 0.30 m wide forming the entrance. The western and east sides were probably made up of dry stone walls, only the west side was restored. The whole is covered with a single cover table (2.80 m de long, 2,40 m wide, 0.40 m thick, estimated weight 9.8 T ). The corridor is short (1.50 m ), closed at its end by two small slabs. It is filled with dry stones and covered with a single slab [ 2 ] .
It is difficult to estimate the volume of the initial cairn, its stones having been reused later “for the construction by the shepherds and the farmers of restanques and dry stone walls with historical eras” [ 2 ] .
Known for a long time and used as shelter by shepherds and hunters, the dolmen had been looted prior to the archaeological excavation carried out in 2006 by the scientific team of the Gorges du Verdon prehistory museum. However, this made it possible to locate an archaeological filling layer which remained in place and to collect 415 bones and fragments of human bones, 82 set elements, 2 flint reinforcements, 18 limestone platelets, 1 nodule of iron sulfide and 10 ceramic micro-tights [ 2 ] .
Although human bones are very fragmented, their study shows that buried individuals were mainly adults. The installation elements are mainly made up of pearls, several types (flat circulars, in dules, with fins) and in various materials (limestone, shell test and probably in steatitis), two pendants and pierced pyrite ammonitis. Ceramic micro-tights are probably of external origin and posterior to burials [ 2 ] .
The excavation has uncovered a large number of small limestone pebbles found at the oldest layer. Given the geological context, these pebbles cannot correspond to a natural deposit [ 2 ] .
“The typology of dolmen, fins, techno-typology of reinforcements and the regional context of megalithism, argue for an allocation of construction and the oldest levels in dolmen to the final Neolithic. An age of the order of 2,500 BC. AD is a plausible working hypothesis » [ 2 ] .
Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]
- Jean Gagnepain and Caroline Luzi, Archaeological diagnostic report N O 01647, the dolmen of white stones in Castellane, campaign of September-December 2006 , Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, , 50 p.
: document used as a source for writing this article.
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