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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Guillay's megalith, also known as Guillay's Stone, is a menhir located in the municipality of Larrivière-Saint-Savin in the Landes department. This monument, erected during the Neolithic period, is distinguished by its imposing size: 3.20 m high for 2.20 m wide and 1 m thick, with an estimated weight of 20 tonnes. It is composed of sandstone of Coudures, a rock dating from the Eocene. Ranked a historic monument on 28 March 1978, it is a unique case among the menhirs of the Landes.

The menhir was discovered lying in 1967 during a clearing, its summit already broken for a long time. Thanks to the intervention of the municipality of Larrivière, the CNRS and the architects of the buildings of France, it was located near its original location, at the place called the Guillay, about 5 km southeast of the village. The broken upper part was raised during this operation. The menhir stands today at 135 m above sea level on the D11 road leading to Eugénie-les-Bains.

The southern face of the menhir, 0.50 m from the top, carries primitive engravings made by picketing on a polished surface. These motifs, interpreted in various ways, could represent a cervid and a wheeled tank with axle and drawbar. An alternative hypothesis, proposed by Alain Beyneix, suggests that it would be an attached bovide, evoking the Iberian bestiary. These engravings, dated approximately from the beginning of the second millennium B.C.E., recall similar motifs found in the Wonder Valley, possibly related to representations of cultivated fields.

The first descriptions of the engravings, published in 1968 by Robert Arambourou and Claude Thibault, underline their schematic character. A black and white photograph, taken at the time, highlights these motifs with lateral lighting. These engravings, though shallow, offer a rare testimony of megalithic art in this region, reinforcing the heritage importance of the site.

The Guillay Menhir is now protected and accessible, located at approximately 4827 Route du Tursan. Its ranking in 1978 and the accompanying studies make it a key element of the megalithic heritage of the Landes, attracting the attention of researchers and enthusiasts of prehistoric history.

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