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Origin and history

La Pierre Levée, also known as Pierre Pleureuse or Pierre des Veuves, is a dolmen located in Fontaine-les-Basset, Orne department, Normandy. This megalithic monument dates back to the Neolithic period and is presented in the form of a sandstone cover table measuring 4 meters long by 3.70 meters wide, now inclined and resting on a single support. Two other tiles, 2.75 metres long, were found buried to the east during excavations conducted in 1815.

The dolmen was classified as historical monuments by order of 24 April 1934, thus recognizing its heritage importance. Its present state, partially collapsed, reflects the alterations suffered over the centuries, while maintaining a major archaeological value for the study of neolithic funeral practices in Lower Normandy.

This type of monument, typical of megalithism, was generally used as a collective burial. In the Neolithic regional context, local communities were organized around agriculture, livestock and crafts, and these structures played a central role in rituals related to the death and memory of ancestors. The dolmens, like that of Fontaine-les-Bassets, often marked the landscape and served as symbolic landmarks for the populations of the time.

The available sources, including Léon Coutil's references in L'Homme Préhistorique (1926) and data from the Normandie Mérimée Inventory, underline the importance of this site among the other megalithic monuments of Orne. Despite its partial state, Pierre Levée remains a valuable testimony to the construction techniques and beliefs of the Neolithic societies of the region.

The excavations of 1815, although little documented in the source text, revealed buried structural elements, providing an overview of the construction methods used several millennia ago. Today, the site continues to attract the interest of archaeologists and historians, while being accessible to the public for visits, although its degree of geographical accuracy is considered poor (level 5/10 according to Monumentum).

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