<< Our Photo Pages >> Dolmen des Coutoux - Burial Chamber or Dolmen in France in Aquitaine:Dordogne (24)
Submitted by TheCaptain on Friday, 06 May 2011 Page Views: 2974
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Dolmen des Coutoux Alternative Name: Jambe Grosse, Menhir de Jambe-grosseCountry: France
NOTE: This site is 3.136 km away from the location you searched for.
Département: Aquitaine:Dordogne (24) Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Nearest Town: Périgueux Nearest Village: Sencenhac Puy-de-Fourches
Latitude: 45.321667N Longitude: 0.661111E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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alchemille visited on 16th Aug 2013 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 2 Access: 1 Jambe Grosse
Megalithe de Coutoux, or jambe Grosse.
Latitude: 45.321683
Longitude: 0.66100
Jambe Grosse is an ancient farm near Sancenhac-Puy de Fourches, Dordogne, which takes its name from an standing triangular shape stone found in a wood nearby.
The wood is private and the access is very difficult. I asked permission of the owner to gain access to the woods and take some pictures, the permission was granted. These woods are protectet by barbed wired, and have not been visited nor had the paths been cleared for a long time. There are lots of brambles, dead trees, spider webs with oak trees and silver birches inhibiting the access. However I managed to follow the remains of the path of a tractor, visible in some stretches, to gain access to the site.
The village near the wood is called La Besse (from latin: botus >bettius >bette >besse> betula, bes, bouleau, in English: “silver birch” ). The Megalithe site is associated with the community of Valeuil. The owner has approached them requesting that this area should become a visiting site of the megalithic era. Unfortantly this project has never materialised and the owner would now like to sell the plot for a reasonable price.
I have found some articles published about this megalithic site mentioning the name of Megalithe de Coutoux.
In fact, there are two triangular stones 3 metres apart approximately, one is laying down and covered with ivy and moss, the other is still standing more than a metre high from the ground; the northwest side is covered with moss. I found a small hole or cavity,commonly found in dolmens, this was a medieval practice to place a cross on the stone to christianised the site. Nothing proves that this is the case in Jambe Grosse.
The Jambe Grosse stone is of similar colour to those of Peyre levade de Fouret, near Condat sur Trincou, and the Dolmen of Laprougès, lieu dit le Bourland, Valeuil; the stone is a sandstone which contains iron “grès rouge ferrugineux.”
I do not think these two stones were the orthostats of a dolmen, they served a different purpose. All around the wood there are several cairns of similar type of reddish stone, four or these cairns are clearly tumuli. It makes me think that the area was probably a necropolis. I looked around for a possible stone circle, but instead I found a sort of a stone bank, or a ruined wall or a rampart running along to the edge, where the slope of the nearby hill starts. I went up to this hill but I could not find nor see anything of interest.
In many religions the triangle represents a divinity, and the triangular shape is often associated to protection and with God itself. Oracles use the triangular shape to block unwanted spirits. A particular thing about Jambe Grosse is one stone with a double triangle carved out, with the large on dominating a smaller one in front of it. Is it perhaps a symbol of femininity, or a divinity and the trinity? Mother and son/daughter?
In some cultures the triangle is the symbol of light, the symbol of time (present, past and future) or birth, life and death; it could also symbolise the aspirations: liberty, equality and fraternity.
At the moment, this is an insolite, unique stone in Dordogne, but there are triangular menhirs in Britany, although not many.
This raises many questions:
Why plant these triangular stones?
Are menhirs the simbol of the male sexual attributes and triangular shape menhirs representing the female vulva?
Was this area consacrated ground to a female divinity?
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1.2km WSW 248° Beauroulet Dolmen* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
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