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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Dolmen de Lamalou, located in Rouet, Herault, is a megalithic edifice dating from the Neolithic period. Ranked a historic monument in 1954, it is distinguished by its remarkable conservation, including a tumulus of 15 m in diameter and 3 m in height, as well as complete architectural elements (couloir, anteroom, bedroom and floor tiles). Restored in 1977, it illustrates the funeral construction techniques of the era, with dry stone walls and inclined slabs.

The corridor, slightly arched and 5.10 m long, leads to an antechamber separated by a partition pierced by an opening in the shape of an oven door. The chamber, of trapezoidal plane, is covered with a single oval slab of 3.50 m long. The floor, paved in the bedroom and in beaten earth in the antchamber, has delivered a rich archaeological furniture: human bones, flint tools (handlers, scrapers), trimmings (pearls, pendants) and fragments of pottery.

Excavations revealed more than 50 kg of bones and 2,270 teeth, as well as a varied lithic and bone industry (bunny bone chips, arrow tips). The architectural similarities with the dolmen next to the leaves suggest a local building tradition. The furniture, preserved at the Musée de Lattes, bears witness to the funeral and artisanal practices of Neolithic in Languedoc.

The dolmen, enclosed in a tumulus consolidated by vertical slabs, opens to the southwest on the natural slope. Its exceptional state of conservation, including almost all its original elements, makes it a key site for the study of Languedoc megaliths. The restoration of 1977 strengthened the cover of the anteroom with an additional slab, thus preserving this unique heritage.

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