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Origin and history

The Dolmen du Val d'Avril, nicknamed Plat à Gargantua ou dolmen de la Fontaine Plate, is a megalithic building located in Tripleville, Loir-et-Cher department. Ranked under the title of historical monuments as early as 1889 under the mistaken name of polisher, it consists of a rectangular chamber oriented east/west (3.70 m x 2.70 m), bounded by limestone orthostats of Beauce. A sub-trapezoal cover table (2.70 m x 1.80 m) is still in place, while a second table, probably originally located on the entrance side, has disappeared. Blocks to the east could be the remains of a portal. The slabs, transported from a 40 m distant hillside, bear witness to remarkable neolithic know-how.

The site was reportedly searched clandestinely in 1967, causing the collapse of an internal slab and the discovery of human bones, including skulls. This violation partially altered the structure, already weakened by time. The dolmen is part of a local megalithic landscape associated with the legend of Gargantua: according to tradition, the giant, sitting between the bell towers of Tripleville, Ouzouer-le-Marché and Verdes, would have used the site as a soup dish, hence its nickname. Nearby, the Drue in Gargantua (800 m east) would represent its keel in a mythical cork game.

The protection of the dolmen dates back to the 1889 list, although its initial ranking incorrectly mentions a polisher, a common confusion for megaliths at the time. The materials, exclusively in Beauce limestone, emphasize the adaptation of Neolithic builders to local resources. Today, the monument illustrates both the technical ingenuity of prehistoric societies and their symbolic dimension, between cult of the dead and persistent folk tales.

Unauthorized searches of 1967, though destructive, revealed traces of burial, confirming the funeral vocation of the dolmen. The absence of detailed archaeological reports, however, limits the precise understanding of its use and evolution. The site remains a major testimony of the megalithism in the Centre-Val de Loire, integrated into a network of comparable monuments in the Loir-et-Cher.

The legend of Gargantua, shared with other regional megaliths, anchored the dolmen in the local imagination. This narrative, combining geography and mythology, reflects an ancient desire to explain the origin of stones by superhuman forces. The dolmen, by its size and form, lends itself particularly to this interpretation, strengthening its cultural appeal beyond its archaeological value.

Finally, the Dolmen du Val d'Avril is cited in Jackie Despriée and Claude Leymarios' Inventory of Megaliths of France (1974), a reference work for the study of the Loir-et-Cher prehistoric sites. Its present state, though degraded, makes it a subject of study for archaeologists and a place of memory for the inhabitants, between history and legend.

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