Allée couverte de la Pierre Plate
N 49° 06.528 E 002° 15.726
31U E 446145 N 5439812
[FR] La presence d'une sepulture sous une dalle de gres depassant du sol n'a ete suspectee qu'a la fin du XIXe siecle. [EN] The presence of a grave beneath a sandstone slab underground was only suspected at the end of the 19th century.
Waymark Code: WM3B6C
Location: France
Date Posted: 03/08/2008
Views: 29
[FR] Apres avoir ete reperee lors de sondages en 1912, elle fut entierement et consciencieusement fouillee en 1926 par l'archeologue Bernard Bottet, resident alors a l'Isle-Adam.
Longue de 14m, delimitee par 20 blocs verticaux (orthostates) de gres ou de calcaire parfois separes de plaquettes de pierre, elle presente encore 3 grandes dalles de couverture en place, dont la premiere est un ancien polissoir reemployee (rainurages sur la face inferieure, lies a une activite de polissage, de hache par example). Le sol du caveau etait soigneusement pave, a l'exception d'une bande vers le fond (chevet), correspondant probablement a une ancienne paroi de bois. Le "trou d'homme" de la dalle d'entree est remarquable : il est borde d'une rainure (feuillure) et de deux perforations qui indiquent un systeme de fermeture amovible, dont le "bouchon" pourrait etre un petit bloc de gres recueilli a la fouille.
Le caveau renfermait les ossements d'une centaine de personnes. Ils etaient generalement disloques, mais des regroupements de cranes ou des fagots d'os longs disposes le long des parois evoquent un systeme de petites niches. Une lamelle de silex fichee dans une vertebre et un crane defonce de deux coups de hache, illustrent les circonstances, violentes, de la mort de deux individus.
En revanche, plusieurs cas de fractures ressoudees ou de trepanations, dont une cicatrisee, temoignent de soins "medicaux" prodigues aux vivants.
Un riche mobilier fut egalement recueilli : poteries, fleches de silex tailles et haches polies, poincons en os, pendentifs en schiste, perles d'os ou de nacre, molaire de sanglier perforee et coquilles marines ... Ayant appartenu aux defunts ou disposes comme offrandes, ces objets sont frequemment presents dans ce type d'inhumation.
La Pierre-Plate a ete classe Monument historique en 1932. Elle resta cependant abandonee, jusqu'a sa restauration en 1970 par le service regional de l'archeologie qui proceda a d'ultimes recherches.
A cette occasion, une datation sur os humain (entre 2564 a 2037 avant notre ere) et une reprise de l'etude du mobilier ont montre que la sepulture, mise en place au cours de la civilisation Seine-Oise-Marne du Neolithique final, avait ete reutilisee au Chalcolithique, durant le IIe millenaire avant notre ere.
De par sa taille et la qualite de sa conservation lors de sa decouverte, La Pierre-Plate, regulierement entretenue par l'Office National des Forets, est une des allees sepulcrales les plus spectaculaires de la region.
[EN] After having been located during surveys in 1912, it was entirely and conscienciously excavated in 1926 by the archeologist Bernard Bottet, who was residing then at Isle-Adam.
14m long, lined by 20 vertical blocks of sandstone or limestone sometimes separated by smaller stone plates, it still retains in place 3 large covering slabs, of which the first was reemployed after serving to polish objects (evidenced by grooves on the underside linked to polishing activities, of axes for example). The floor of the grave was carefully paved, with the exception of a strip towards the back, probably corresponding to an ancient wood wall. The entry slab "manhole" is remarkable : it is encircled by a groove and two perforations which indicate a removable closing system, of which the "stopper" could be a small block of sandstone recovered from the excavation.
The grave contained the bone fragments of around 100 persons. They were generally dislocated, but groupings of skulls or bundles of long bones arranged along the walls suggests a system of small niches. A flint blade sticking out of a vertebrae and a skull smashed by two ax blows illustrate the violent circumstances surrounding the death of two individuals.
On the other hand, many cases of reattached fractures or trephinations, one of which healed, testifies to the "medical" care administered to the living.
A rich collection of artifacts was also recovered : pottery, chipped flint arrows and polished axes, bone awls, schist pendants, beads made of bone or mother of pearl, the drilled molar of a wild boar and sea shells ... Having belonged to the deceased or left as offerings, these objects are frequently present in this type of burial.
The Pierre-Plate was classified as an historical monument in 1932. It remained, nevertheless, abandoned, until its restauration by the regional archeological service in 1970 which carried out the last studies.
At that time, the dating of human bones (between 2565 and 2037 B.C.) and further study of the artifacts revealed that the grave, originally used during the course of the Seine-Oise-Marne civilization of the late Neolithic age, was reused in the Chalcolithic age, during the 2nd millenium B.C.
By virtue of its size and the degree of preservation at the time of its discovery, the Pierre-Plate, regularly maintained by the National Forest Office, is one of the most spectacular passage graves in the region.
Type: Dolmen
Number: 20.00
Size:
see above
Source:
see above
Purpose:
see above
Parking: Not Listed
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