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Origin and history

The dolmen de la Pierre-Levée, also known as the dolmen de Janville or Pocancy, is located in Janville-sur-Juine, Essonne. Discovered between 1850 and 1860 in the course of research, it was probably known before, as evidenced by the local names Champtier de la Pierre Levée and Sous La Pierre Levée, present on the Napoleonic cadastre. The farmers, digging the room into a shelter, dispersed its contents, including the remains of a dozen individuals according to Delessard, or seven adults and one child according to Tomasi. The objects discovered (ash, bones, flint) are now lost, with the exception of a millstone preserved at the Musée de Préhistoire d'Ile-de-France.

The monument, of the angelvin type, consists of a rectangular chamber (4.30 m x 2.40-2.65 m) covered with a slab of 16 tons of sandstone of Fontainebleau, extracted less than 200 m from the site. The antechamber, now ruined, was bounded by two orthostats. The dolmen was initially covered with a tumulus, supplemented by stones from the field. Abstract engravings, once interpreted as polishing furrows, adorn the cover table. The site, excavated by E. Delessard in 1880, was classified as a Historical Monument in 1889 and then in 1949, before being acquired by the French Prehistoric Society.

The excavations revealed a pebble-covered ground with traces of combustion, probably taken in June, 750 m from the site. Funeral furniture, now extinct, included ashes, bones, a flint blade and tools. The dormant millstone, the only preserved vestige, illustrates the agricultural and ritual practices of Neolithic in Île-de-France. The dolmen, associative property, remains a major testimony of the collective burials of this period.

First ranked in 1889, the dolmen received enhanced protection in 1949. Its present state is the result of the deterioration suffered in the nineteenth century, including the emptying of its chamber and the disappearance of its original tumulus. The slabs, in local sandstone, and the east-west orientation underline its integration into a broader funerary and symbolic landscape, characteristic of Neolithic in the Paris Basin.

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