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Origin and history

The Pierre à Mousseaux, also known as Grosse Borne or Pierre de Montceau, is a sandstone menhir of almost rectangular shape (2.40 m high, 1.40 m wide, 0.70 m thick), located at Vigneux-sur-Seine in the Essonne. Ranked a historic monument in 1889, it was reported as early as the 18th century under various names (Pierre de Monceau, Gros Caillou) in the archives of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-l-Auxerrois. Its name evokes a neighboring tumulus, now disappeared. Shot about 1911-1912 for a sandstone, he was straightened after the exploitation stopped.

Nearby, a Neolithic collective burial was discovered in 1875 during work in the sandstone. This oval pit (7 m x 3 m, 2 m deep), surrounded by a dry stone wall, contained, depending on the sources, between 40 bodies in disorder or bodies aligned on two rows. The soil was either paved with limestone or covered with millstone. The archaeological material, collected by the owner Jean-Baptiste Piketty, combines this tomb with the Seine-Oise-Marne culture. The grave, without cover, was destroyed after its excavation.

The menhir, with a weight of 4 tons, is located near the Seine, at the border of Vigneux-sur-Seine and Draveil, in the former park of the Château des Mousseaux. Its stampian sandstone and rectangular shape make it a typical example of the megaliths of the Paris region. The historical descriptions, which are variable according to the authors (Ph. Salmon, Adrien de Mortillet, F. Martin), highlight its archaeological importance and its link to local neolithic funeral practices.

The sources also mention medieval acts of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-l His classification in 1889 and the excavations of 1875 were studied by archaeologists such as Gérard Bailloud, who attached him to the Seine-Oise-Marne culture. Today owned by the municipality, it remains accessible although its environment has been altered by past industrial activities.

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