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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Pre-Vivret megalith is a huge flattened ellipsoid-shaped shale block, measuring nearly 5 metres long, 3 metres wide and 1.50 metres thick, for an estimated weight of 15 tons. It is located to the north of the hamlet Le Moncel, on the commune of Saint-Omer (Calvados), on the edge of a stream. His position suggests that he would have rolled from a slope before he stopped there. Its megalithic character remains uncertain: some, like Jules L'Hermitte, have hypothesized that it could be the dolmen table, whose potential supports would be smaller rocks located 50 metres downstream.

The official discovery of the megalith dates back to 1939, when Jules L'Hermitte, a member of the Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, reported it on the cadastral plot of Pré du Vivit. The site has been listed as historic monuments since 19 May 1954, recognizing its heritage interest. The stone, composed of shale, rests on its large face on the left bank of the stream, in a landscape marked by surrounding rock formations.

The debate on the origin of the megalith persists: is it a natural element or a human construction? Jules L'Hermitte himself expressed doubts, stressing the lack of tangible evidence linking this block to a larger megalithic ensemble. Today, the site remains an intriguing testimony of the Neolithic in Normandy, during which time the local communities erected funerary or memorial monuments in stone. Its classification in 1954 allowed its preservation, although its access and exact location are sometimes difficult to specify for visitors.

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