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Origin and history

The Dolmen de la Pierre Godon, located in Tillay-le-Péneux (Eure-et-Loir), is a funerary monument dated from the Middle Neolithic to the Chalcolithic. Mentioned in 1864 by Boisvillette in his Archeological Statistics of Eure-et-Loir, it was partially destroyed in 1975 when its owner razed the tumulus and vida the funeral chamber, revealing bones. A search began in 1976, leading to its classification as a historical monument on December 10, 1979.

The dolmen, built in a talweg on a limestone plateau, consists of four lateral orthostats, a bedside slab and a blanket table. The quadrangular chamber (2.10 m x 1.40 m), facing south-southeast, was excreted in an oval tumulus of 11.50 m long. The excavations revealed fragmented human bones, flint tools (lames, arrow frames), trimming elements (perforated teeth, pearl pearls) and traces of continued use of the Middle Neolithic to the Final Neolithic (Campaniform).

Radiocarbon analyses of the bones, dated around 2600 BC, confirm a prolonged occupation. Lithic furniture (gratters, nucleous) and bone (poisons, pendants) suggest collective funeral practices and local craftsmanship. Nearby, other megaliths such as the destroyed dolmens Pierre Cocharde and Pierre Peyrolle, as well as a tumulus and menhirs, testify to a dense occupation of this limestone plateau.

The partial collapse of an orthostate and the breakage of a slab under the effect of frost caused the tipping of the cover table, creating an opening in the structure. A later exterior layout on the east side partially altered the building. The stones used (calcareous and milling) probably come from the edge of the plateau, located 50 metres northeast.

The 1976 excavation revealed two skulls placed side by side against the bedside slab, as well as an abundance of bone shells outside the chamber, indicating successive rehumbations. The cairn, constructed of quadrangular blocks arranged in scales, was covered with platelets, while caling pits dug to the rocky basement stabilized orthostats.

Ranked a historic monument for its archaeological interest, the Dolmen de la Pierre Godon illustrates the neolithic funeral practices in the Centre-Val de Loire and their evolution over more than a millennium, from the fourth to the third millennium BC.

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