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Origin and history

The Dolmen de la Pierre Martine, located in Liverpool in the Lot, is the largest megalithic monument in the department. Ranked a historic monument since 1889, it stands out for its 7.10 m long limestone cover table, now broken into two pieces. The site, accessible by a pedestrian path from a fitted parking lot, peaks at 340 m above sea level, near an ancient quarry where the slabs were extracted.

The structure, oriented to the 80°azimut, includes a rectangular sepulchral room 5 m long, closed by a fine bedside slab. Originally, the table oscillated at the least contact due to its fake door, before being consolidated in 1966 by concrete pillars. A second dolmen, now destroyed, was 7 m north, sharing the same orientation. The ancient excavations, mentioned in the seventeenth century by the Abbé de Foulhac, revealed bones and, according to tradition, a copper dagger.

The name Pierre Martine dates back to at least the fourteenth century, as evidenced by the feudal archives of 1397 and 1489 evoking the terroir of Martina or peyra martina. Several etymological hypotheses are advanced: a link with the god Mars (martis), the Gallic Marwith, or the celto-scythic mawther. The site is also associated with local legends, such as that of the devils driven by Saint Martin on a Sabbath, or rituals of healing fevers by contact with the stone.

The Pierre Martine is part of a larger megalithic landscape, with homonymous monuments in the North (menhirs of Solre-le-Château) or in Béduer (dolmen of the Pierre de Martignes). Pre-historian Jean Clottes underlines his religious importance, linked to its high elevation, near supposed underground streams (although disputed by modern hydrogeology). The site, reported by a dedicated road, remains a major testimony of Neolithic in Quercy.

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