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Origin and history

The Tumulus des Sept-Bonnettes, located in Sailly-en-Ostrevent, Pas-de-Calais, is a megalithic enclosure of an ovoid shape measuring 38 m in length, 28 m in width and 5 m in height. At its top stands a cromlech, initially composed of seven erect stones, one of which has disappeared and another is broken. This site, classified as a historic monument in 1889, was searched in 1877 by Mr.Bréan, a member of the Society of Sciences of Douai, revealing human bones, flint tools and traces of combustion.

During the First World War, the tumulus suffered considerable damage: the Germans installed a battery there and dug a refuge in the hill. The excavations of 1877 made it possible to discover, in sandy soil, ashes, coals, bones (including a fragment of a skull) and flint artefacts (cutlers, scrapers, arrow tips, axes). These elements suggest a funeral or ritual use of the site at a prehistoric time.

A local legend tells that seven young girls, surprised dancing on the tumulus during the service, were transformed into stones. The term cap, in the local patois, refers to a wicked girl, adding a folk dimension to the monument. The site, owned by the commune, remains a rare testimony of megalithic practices in the Hauts-de-France, despite the destruction suffered in the twentieth century.

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