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Origin and history

La Pierre aux Fées is a Neolithic covered alley located in Villers-Saint-Sepulcre, in the Oise department. This funerary monument, semi-entered and oriented north-north-east, is about 10 meters long. It consists of a vestibule and a sepulchral chamber separated by a transverse slab pierced by a circular hole. The room, 8 meters long, is bounded by eleven orthostates (six on the left, five on the right) and still retained three slabs of cover in 1909, the others having been removed in 1701. The soil was probably paved, and another nearby dolmen, now destroyed, existed nearby.

The first excavations, carried out in 1763 by M. de Marolles, lord of Hez, revealed four to five skeletons as well as funerary furniture (polished axes and an axe-pendeloque in Jadeite), which is now extinct. Further expedient excavations took place in 1854, and the first known survey was conducted by E. Hue in 1909. Ranked in 1889 among historical monuments, the site is one of the best preserved covered aisles of Oise. There are indications of the ancient presence of a parallelogram cover tumulus, which is still partially visible.

In 1758, the monument was almost entirely buried: only the covering slabs emerged from the ground, while the vestibule and bedroom were filled with earth. Archived research indicates that Pierre aux Fées shares features with other regional covered alleys, such as Trie-Château and Boury-en-Vexin. The site, owned by the commune, remains a major testimony of neolithic funeral practices in the Hauts-de-France.

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