<< Our Photo Pages >> La Pierre Qui Tourne de Sautin - Polissoir in Belgium in Hainaut
Submitted by Alta-Falisa on Tuesday, 17 May 2005 Page Views: 8411
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: La Pierre Qui Tourne de SautinCountry: Belgium
NOTE: This site is 10.182 km away from the location you searched for.
Province: Hainaut Type: Polissoir
Nearest Town: Beaumont Nearest Village: Sautin
Latitude: 50.152167N Longitude: 4.215823E
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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The site is called "La Pierre qui Tourne", which would imply one stone – but there are two.
The stone on the left, broken at mid-height then repaired, is called "Pierre qui Tourne". The stone on the right is called "Polissoir" (polishing stone). Both are made of landenian sandstone.
Strangely enough, the different narratives are sketchy and confusing ; we'll limit ourselves to a minimum.
It is generally said that they have been found in 1868, nearby (and near each other ?) – but no plausible spot(s) has (have) been identified.
They have been first investigated in 1878 by Mr Van Bastelaer, president of the Archaeological Society of Charleroi – but there is not much trace of any report about the stones proper.
They have been erected to their present location in 1897 ; the "Pierre qui Tourne" was broken during WWI and repaired in 1920 – but even all that is doubtful, as the two parts do not match : the "Pierre qui Tourne" might be made of two distinct polissoirs arbitrarily assembled to match the other stone, today called "Polissoir" (polishing stone).
To complicate matters, an inhabitant who, to this day, has always lived next to this spot, teenager during WWII, maintains that both stones were retrieved from the forest during WWII, and that the break and the repair date from that time.
Photo taken April 2014.
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