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Origin and history

The Dolmen dit Chillon du Feuillet is a megalithic monument located in the commune of Descartes, in the department of Indre-et-Loire, in the Centre-Val de Loire region. Data from Neolithic, it consists of a 4.30 × 2.50 metre sandstone table, supported by four supports, three of which are aligned and the fourth perpendicularly arranged. A fifth block, isolated and oriented differently, is 1.80 metres long. This dolmen, located on the side of the Esves Valley, north of Descartes, was classified as historical monuments by order of 4 April 1911.

According to historical sources, the dolmen was emptied and then filled in at an indefinite time. He is associated with a local legend that Gargantua, a mythical character, used his stones to play the palet. This folk anecdote illustrates the population's attachment to this site, which also appears in René Boylesve's novel La Becquée, where characters come to sit at his foot.

The dolmen is built of sandstone, a material typical of the megaliths of the region. Its structure, although partially altered, remains an important testimony of the funeral and cultural practices of Neolithic in Touraine. The site is referenced in archaeological inventories, notably in the works of Gérard Cordier and Robert Ranjard, who document the megaliths of Indre-et-Loire.

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