Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The covered walkway from the cemetery to the English, located in the woods of the Loctaines in Vaureal (Val-d的Oise), was built around 3300 B.C. and used for about 1000 years as a collective burial. Known locally for centuries, it was partially looted and nicknamed the "Cemeter of the English" from the 14th century, with reference to the English occupation during the Hundred Years' War, although no bodies of this period were found there. The exhumed bones, all dated Neolithic, reveal about a hundred individuals buried, with traces of osteoarthritis, trepanation and tuberculosis.

The monument, oriented east-west, consists of a 13 m long funeral chamber, bounded by sandstone orthostates (some weighing up to 5 tons) and segmented by transverse walls. The entrance slab, adorned with a boat engraving and pierced with an opening in "furnace mouth", was found broken several hundred meters from the site. The excavations, conducted in 1867 by the Viscount Amédée de Caix de Saint-Aymour, then in 1972 and 2018, revealed a rich funerary furniture: polished axes, pearl necklaces, and a jadeite amulet axe.

Ranked a historic monument in 1969 and restored in 1972, the site has been integrated with the coat of arms of Vaureal since 1943. Archaeological objects are preserved at the Guiry-en-Vexin Museum and the Senlis Museum. The building, initially covered with slabs or wooden structure, was probably buried, with only the entrance emerging to mark its location in the Oise Valley.

Bone analyses suggest prolonged use of the site, with up to 300-400 burials estimated over its use period. The deceased, mostly adults, have few traces of violent death, indicating a stable neolithic society. Funeral furniture, including trimmings and flint tools, testifies to ritual practices and developed craftsmanship.

The covered alley owes its name to a local legend related to the Hundred Years War, although its use is exclusively prehistoric. His partial looting before the excavations limited the discoveries, but the archaeological layer of 1867 was still intact to 40 cm thick, revealing skeletons in anatomical connection and objects in fibrolith or bone. Modern restorations have stabilized the structure, threatened by erosion of sandy soil.

External links