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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Dolmen du Grand-Bouillac, also known as Palet de Gargantua, is an iconic megalithic site of Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard, in Vendée ( Pays de la Loire). This monument, classified as historical monuments in 1991, is distinguished by its local sandstone structure and its turbulent archaeological history. Its popular name draws from a legend that the giant Gargantua, spanning the Bouillac valley to play bowls, dropped one of its pallets, while the Pierre-qui-vire de Longeville-sur-Mer embodied the keel.

The first written records date back to 1841, when Léon Audé described the dolmen and a nearby conical tertre, possibly linked to an ancient mill. The excavations carried out in 1901 and 1905 by Marcel Baudouin and Georges Lacouloumère, although controversial for their method of "restoration", allowed to discover a rich archaeological furniture: bone and flint tools (poisons, arrows, polished axe), decorated campaniform ceramics, and human bones. These artifacts, dated from the Chalcolithic Age of Copper, are now preserved at the Musée Sainte-Croix des Sables-d'Olonne. The dolmen, probably a dolmen with a secluded corridor before its collapse, was reportedly surrounded by three menhirs today disappeared, victims of the 1969 re-memberment.

Beyond its archaeological interest, the site is abounded by folklore. The legend of the golden ball game hidden under the dolmen attracted treasure hunters at the beginning of the twentieth century, without success. These stories, combining history and imagination, illustrate the attachment of the premises to this heritage, while highlighting the challenges of its preservation. Bibliographic sources, such as Bertrand Poissonnier's work, confirm its importance in the megalithic landscape of the Vendee, alongside other classified sites in the region.

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