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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Pierre de Chalais, located in the Bois de Clamart (Meudon forest), is a megalith in Fontainebleau sandstone measuring 2.20 m high, with a broad base of 2.10 m and a flattened top. Its use as a knife sharpener over the centuries would have contributed to this erosion. In the vicinity, other blocks of sandstone are sanding on the ground, including a slab of 1.85 m x 1.60 m. An engraving in the form of "U" (0.26 m x 0.21 m), interpreted as a possible representation of the funerary goddess, adorns its north face. Abbé Breuil mentioned upper ocelles, now invisible.

Wrongly classified as Pierre aux Moines in 1895, this stone was confused in the 19th century with another nearby megalith, the real Stone aux Moines, now extinct. Historical plans (1708, 1723) clearly located the two stones, but excavations in the mid-19th century, led by Dr.Eugène Robert, confirmed the confusion by associating the two names with one site. The discoveries (fragments of vase, traces of coal) suggest an ancient human occupation, although the exact nature of the monument (menhir, vestige of dolmen or covered driveway) remains debated.

The site, designed by Vacquer in 1875, attracted archaeologists such as Gabriel de Mortillet and Marcellin Berthelot after deforestation in 1893. Berthelot reported the site to the Academy of Sciences in July 1893, and subsequent excavations (1894) revealed three additional slabs. The stone, buried over 0.25 m, is now accessible near the current crossroads of the Pierre-aux-Moines, in an environment marked by urbanization (construction of Avenue Claude-Trébignaud in 1960 on the original location of the medieval crossroads).

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