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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The dolmen de la Pierre-qui-Vire, located in the commune of Colombe-lès-Vesoul in Haute-Saône, is a simple megalithic monument, composed of a 1.25 metre square burial chamber, bounded by three orthostates. Its peculiarity lies in its circular cover table (1.92 m in diameter), re-cut at an unknown time to make it a dormant millstone, but abandoned due to cracks. Originally covered with a pile of spies, only this slab was visible in the 19th century.

Reported for the first time in 1835 by Sucheaux, the dolmen was searched in 1946 by J. Collot, without significant results. Research revealed that the funeral chamber had been emptied long before these excavations. A survey in 1975 confirmed this absence of vestiges. Despite this, the site was classified as historical monuments on 24 August 1976, thanks to the action of the Vesoul Agriculture, Science and Arts Society.

According to a local legend, the dolmen cover slab would turn on itself every hundred years, adding a folk dimension to this prehistoric monument. The circular shape of the slab, atypical for a dolmen, suggests further reuse, probably linked to agricultural or artisanal activities. The site remains today a rare testimony of neolithic funeral practices in the Franche-Comté region.

The dolmen currently belongs to a private company and its exact location is estimated as "fair" (level 5/10) according to the available data. Its state of conservation and its access to the public are not specified in the sources, but its classification makes it a protected element of the megalithic heritage of Haute-Saône.

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