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.


 

2. La Peyre Dermale

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.

compare with the Pierre des Neuf Gradins


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.