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Origin and history

The dolmen called Cabane de César, located in Felletin in Creuse (New Aquitaine), is a megalithic building dated to the final Neolithic. It was mentioned in the 17th century as Pierre-soupèse, before being wrongly renamed Cabane de César in 1771 by Michel-Étienne Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, exiled in the region. The latter would also have restored the monument in an imperfect manner, adding interior fittings such as "seats" made of stone, now contested. The local peasants called him Cabane des Fées, but confusion with a nearby cave would have led to his current name.

The dolmen consists of six granite orthostates (while the local basement is in shale), originally supporting two roof tables, only one of which remains (3.25 m long). The funeral chamber, 2.10 m by 1.35 m, has traces of a vestibule or portico, suggesting a corridor dolmen, close to the Angoumoisins types, although some researchers evoke an angeline style. Excavations carried out between 1987 and 1989 by R. Nicoux revealed modest archaeological furniture: flint arrow point, ceramic tensions, and coals dated to the final Neolithic.

Ranked a historic monument in 1966, the site was the subject of successive restorations and studies, notably by Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau in the 18th century and by the service of the prehistoric Antiquities of Limousin at the end of the 20th century. Its elevation (630 m) and isolation are rare evidence of neolithic funeral practices in the Central Massif. The debates persist on its exact typology, between dolmen to corridor and dolmen angevin, reflecting the diversity of regional megalithic constructions.

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