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Origin and history

The Gargantua Stone, also called Gargantua finger or sheet stone, is a neolithic menhir located in Doingt, in the department of the Somme (Hautes-de-France). This block of parallelepipedic sandstone is 4.15 metres high, with an estimated buried depth of 2.50 metres. Its faces are aligned with the cardinal points, and its imposing mass makes it a rare specimen in northern France. A statuette of Gallo-Roman Mercury, now preserved at the museum in Peronne, would have been discovered at his foot, although the excavations of 1864 did not reveal anything probant.

Ranked a historic monument since 1840, this menhir is represented in a engraving by Louis Duthoit, preserved at the Alfred-Danicourt Museum in Peronne. His name evokes Gargantua, a legendary giant to whom tradition attributes his erection: according to one version, he launched it from Peronne to get rid of a stone in his shoe; According to another, he would have set him up to dry up a spring flooding the area. A third legend combines fairy dances and sorcerers from nearby woods, strengthening its mystical aura.

The site, located in a wooded area near the Cologne River, 1.5 km from Peronne, illustrates the importance of megaliths in local beliefs. The accounts of Clodomir Boulanger (1900) and the studies of Legrain (1891) or Ponchon (1907) highlight his role in the Somme's prehistoric heritage. Today, there remains a major testimony of neolithic practices, mixing history, archaeology and regional folklore.

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