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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Dolmen de Séchebec is a megalithic monument located in Cognac, in the Charente department (New Aquitaine). Data from Neolithic, it is an angeline or angoumoisin-like funeral building, according to interpretations. Its sepulchral room, measuring 2.40 m by 4.80 m, was covered by a blanket table today broken. No trace of tumulus was found, but human bones and flint tools attest to its ritual and funeral use.

The history of the dolmen is marked by early disturbances: looted from the Roman era, it still served as a marker of boundage in the 15th century. Ranked a historic monument in 1930, it was searched in 1958 by archaeologist Claude Burnez, revealing remains of about ten adults and four children, as well as tools and ornaments (dentals, pearls, bone punches). These discoveries suggest a construction during the Peut-richardian, with re-use at the Campaniforme age.

The restoration of the dolmen by the city of Cognac, although not faithful to its original architecture, allowed its preservation. The archaeological furniture, including 62 flint tools and ornament elements, is now preserved at the Cognac Museum of Art and History. The site illustrates neolithic funeral practices and the challenges of conserving megaliths, between historical looting and modern interventions.

The debates on its typology (angelvin or angoumoisine) reflect the diversity of the dolmens of the West Centre. His classification in 1930 and his study by Burnez made him a key witness to Charentais megalithism. Available to the city in 1912, there remains an accessible communal heritage, despite the absence of visible traces of its original tumulus.

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