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Origin and history

The menhir-polisor of Souhé is a megalith located in Naintré, in the department of Vienna (New Aquitaine). This monument consists of a slab of Cenomanian sandstone measuring 3.20 m long, 1.60 m wide and 0.40 to 0.60 m thick. Originally, this slab served as a polisher, as evidenced by its three grooves and seven polishing bowls, which were excavated by use. These traces suggest intensive use to sharpen or shape stone tools.

At an indeterminate time, the slab was straightened by menhir, positioned on the left bank of the Clain, about 220 m from its current bed. In 1965, when it was reported by archaeologist René Fritsch, it was grounded and inclined to 45°. After being moved for the first time to the parking lot of a restaurant on the edge of National Road 10, it was finally installed in a public square in Naintré, its current location.

The Souhé Menhir-Polishoir was listed as a historical monument by order of 19 April 1999 (a date error appears in the source Monumentum, which mentions 1989). This monument illustrates the reuse of polishing stones as menhirs, a practice attested in several regions of France. His study was documented by archaeologists such as René Fritsch and André Cholet, who published their observations in the Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française in 1971.

The technical characteristics of the polisher — cups 0.21 to 0.47 m long, 7 to 12 cm wide — reveal precise working methods linked to the production of neolithic tools. The supposed symmetry with the menhir of the Old Poitiers suggests an intentional spatial organization, possibly linked to ritual or territorial practices. Today, the monument is accessible to the public in the village of Naintré, offering a material testimony of local prehistoric activities.

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