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Origin and history

Bagnol Dolmen, located in Fromental, Upper Vienna, is a megalithic monument dated to the Neolithic. He was first represented in 1863 in a lithography published by the Limousin Archaeological Society. Ranked a Historic Monument on May 7, 1945, he was subjected to excavations and restorations in 1991-1992 under the direction of Roger Crédot, after being threatened with collapse due to the collapse of his pillars. The triangular cover table, measuring 4.50 m long, bears traces of an attempt to destroy by explosion in the early twentieth century.

The piriform funeral chamber, facing east, was probably closed by a dry stone wall or a removable slab. Four orthostats are still visible, but excavations revealed the existence of a fifth pillar, which disappeared before 1863. The slabs, granite from Montjourde, show no trace of the original tumulus. The site provided a variety of archaeological furniture, including middle and final Neolithic arrow frames, a dagger tip, flint flints, and coarse ceramic teasses.

A radiocarbon dating of charcoal found in a calving pit located the construction between 3788 and 3389 BC. The site, frequented until Gallo-Roman and medieval times, also revealed a Gaulish coin and iron slag. Around 3000 pieces of flint suggest the presence of a neolithic habitat, a rarity in western France. According to a local legend, four young girls dropped the stones of the dolmen, one of them invoking God for her to fail vertically in the ground.

Bagnol's dolmen is an exceptional testimony of funeral practices and daily life in Neolithic. Pollinic analyses indicate an economy based on cereals and the presence of chestnut trees, reflecting an environment already transformed by human activity. The proximity to the Menhir des Fichades, less than 500 m apart, reinforces the archaeological importance of this area, studied by Roger Crédot and Guy Lintz in the 2000s.

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