Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The dolmen dit La Pierre Levée, also called dolmen de la Côte, is a megalithic monument located in Saint-Laurent-sur-Gorre, in the Haute-Vienne department. Daté du Neolithique, it was first described in 1876 by Abbé Lecler, who was already in a state of degradation. This archaeological site was excavated in the late 19th century by A. Masfrand, then by C. Gautrand-Moser in the 1970s, revealing artifacts attributed to Artenacian culture.

The dolmen, of simple type, consists of a funeral chamber probably rectangular or trapezoidal, bounded by two orthostats and a bedside slab. Its ovoid cover table, in local gneiss, is 3.10 m long for 2.10 m wide. Oriented east-west, its closure system remains unknown. The excavations revealed pottery studs, a flint blade, and lithic tools, confirming its funeral and ritual use.

Ranked a historic monument in 1889, the dolmen illustrates the Neolithic practices of the region. The archaeological layers identified by Gautrand-Moser reveal a structure covered with rocky blocks, overtaking a natural layer of pebbles. The ceramic material (61 teasses) and lithic (22 flint pieces) discovered attests to a human occupation linked to the Artenacian culture, characteristic of the final Neolithic in Limousin.

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