Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

La Table des Fées is a covered driveway located in the Pas-de-Calais department, in the commune of Fresnicourt-le-Dolmen. This megalithic monument of the Neolithic consists of three orthostats supporting a covering slab of 3 meters long, 2.50 meters wide and 0.60 meters thick, weighing about 10 tons. The slab, partially broken, turned northeast. The specialists debate its classification: some, like Adrien de Mortillet, Claude Burnez and Jean Arnal, see it as a covered alley, while Auguste Terninck considers it as a corridor dolmen.

According to historical sources, this dolmen was once part of a vast megalithic complex comprising four dolmens arranged in diamond and bound by menhir alignments, as well as a double tumulus. This set was reportedly destroyed in the mid-19th century by quarryers exploiting the stones to make paving stones. The monument was classified as historical monuments in 1889, which allowed its partial preservation.

The Table des Fées gave part of its name to the commune of Fresnicourt-le-Dolmen, stressing its local importance. The excavations and studies, as mentioned in the Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française (1969), confirm its role in the regional megalithic landscape. Today, there remains a rare testimony of neolithic funeral and architectural practices in the Hauts-de-France.

External links