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Origin and history

Giraumont covered walkway, also called dolmen de la Ganguille, is a megalithic monument located in the commune of Saint-Marcel, in the Ardennes. Oriented at 106° from the North, it is 7.80 m long and consists of two distinct parts: an antechamber open to the East, 1.20 m wide, and a funeral chamber 5 m long, covered with siliceous sandstone slabs. The walls, fitted with stones cemented by yellow clay and black earth, testify to a sustainable local construction technique. The soil, consisting of yellow clay and reported stones, suggests extraction from a quarry 200 m northeast.

The rediscovery of the site in 1958 was the result of excavations carried out by the Rozoy family, with the help of the inhabitants of Giraumont. This megalith, the fourth identified in the commune, is linked to the sepulchral aisles of Seine-Oise-Marne culture, although its local materials (silicious sandstones) differ from classical examples. Ranked a historic monument in 1960, it illustrates the funeral practices of Chalcolithic in the Great East. Its current state shows partial collapses, including the collapsed West slab, reducing the initial height from 1.20 m to 0.30 m in the centre.

The monument is situated in the middle of nature, on a limestone hill overlooking the Thin valley, 280 m above sea level, between Remilly-les-Pothées and the village of Giraumont. Its design and dimensions make it a rare testimony to the Ardennes megalithic constructions, studied by archaeologists such as Jean-Georges Rozoy. Bibliographical references, including publications by the Société préhistorique de France (1932, 1963), underline its importance in understanding the cultural networks of the final Neolithic in the Paris Basin.

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