Paussac-et-Saint-Vivien (Dordogne)
IGN Série Bleue : 1834 O
1. Dolmen de Saint-Vivien (almost wrecked, but not quite)
photos and watercolour by Tina Negus
Photos taken in Autumn 2008 by Anthony Weir.
These 'sculpted boulders' are signposted 'Dolmen'
and are quite close to Paussac, off the same road as the above dolmen.
It is a striking natural feature, some 19 metres long, which has been enhanced
by human hand,
and is remarkable for two impressive hemispherical basins or bullauns,
similar to some at Ponsat
(Creuse).
One of these is 80 cms in diameter and 25 cms deep, and is
on the lower step of the phenomenon.
It would have made an excellent neolithic mirror.
The serpentine groove or channel ensures that it is almost always full of water, even in very dry seasons.
(a photo
taken before the Dogwood established itself)
The other basin, at ground level, is even larger - large enough for a barbecue
fire to to be lit in it :
a modern sub-ceremonial use of an ancient ceremonial site.
The upper surface of the top stone is full of solution pits, some of which have
been enlarged and shaped by human activity.
A shallow door-sized niche or shelter in the rear of the main stone seems
to me likely to be of recent date - the work of an 18th or 19th century stonemason.
photo by Julianna Lees
For more
megaliths in Dordogne on another website, click here.
Plusieurs mégalithes en Dordogne se trouvent sur un autre
site web francophone.
For more Crateroliths on a French website, click
here.
Autres cratérolithes se trouvent sur un autre
site web francophone.
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