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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Dolmen de Maire-Gaillard, also known as Les Teyssunières, is a megalithic building located in Martiel, Aveyron department, Occitanie region. Data from Neolithic, this funerary monument is distinguished by its circular tumulus of 15 meters in diameter and a sepulchral chamber measuring 2.20 meters long by 1.40 meters wide. An architectural particularity lies in a dry stone structure, similar to a chimney, added later between the bedside slab and the right orthostate, suggesting a reuse of the site as a shelter.

Ranked as historical monuments by order of 20 March 1978, the dolmen was searched around 1885, attributed to Thomas Wilson, consul of the United States in Nice. However, the description provided by Wilson in a letter addressed to Émile Cartailhac in 1885 does not correspond with this dolmen with certainty. Some artifacts from this excavation, including a metal pin, a pottery tison and a perforated limestone, are now preserved at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

The orientation of the dolmen follows an azimuth of 114°, and its state of conservation allowed its classification among the protected monuments. Historical sources, notably the work of Jean Clottes and Claude Maurand in Inventoire des megalithes de la France (1983), confirm its archaeological importance. Despite uncertainties about some excavations, the site remains a major testimony of the funeral and architectural practices of Neolithic Rouergue.

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