Megalithic sites of Charente

The north-western quarter of the department (the Ruffécois) has a rich concentration of megalithic monuments. Tumuli and dolmens are often grouped in veritable necropolises (Tusson, Ligné, Fontenille, Luxé, Chenon), and it is well known that almost a third of the monuments recorded in this area were destroyed between the mid-19th and late 20th centuries, mainly as a result of the land consolidation that took place in the 1960s and 1970s. On the other hand, the persistence of large wooded areas has locally contributed to the preservation of several concentrations of burial mounds.^[1]

In the west of the department, several remarkable dolmens are located on the left bank of the Charente (Châteaubernard, Cognac, Saint-Même-les-Carrières, la Boucharderie). In the south-west, several megaliths that were once reported have now disappeared, victims of the boom in wine-growing; in the south-east, several dolmens are well preserved (Ronsenac, Édon necropolis); as for the north-east of the department, it concentrates the department's main menhirs.^[2][3]

There are several types of dolmen:^[4]

• corridor dolmens, the oldest;
• Angoumoisin-type dolmens, the most numerous;
• dolmens similar to Anjou dolmens in their monumentality;
• simple dolmens and chests, the most recent (late 4th and 3rd millennia).

The Angoumois-type dolmen features a quadrangular chamber covered with a monumental slab in its raw state, with a slightly off-center corridor. The walls are made of carefully assembled, bush-hammered orthostats. The corridor is made up of slabs or low dry-stone walls (Les Pérottes, Motte de la Jacquille). But there are also variants with a round or square chamber where the walls are made entirely of small, stacked dry stones, and the roof must have been a corbelled vault or made of perishable materials.^[5]

Several dolmens in the Cognaçais region have been considered to be Angevin dolmens due to their characteristics (massive roof slabs, high bush-hammered pillars, rectangular chambers), but none have a portico that is still visible. The simple dolmens in the southeastern part of the department, made of sandstone blocks, reflect the proximity of the neighboring dolmens of the Perigord Causses,^[6] with their trapezoidal chambers delimited by just three orthostats.^[5]

Some monuments stand out for their originality (dolmen A4 de la Pièce Grande) or unique architectural features (Motte de la Jacquille).^[7]

Engraved representations on the walls of dolmens are fairly common, mainly crossbows (Roc dolmen, A and B de la Boixe dolmens), axes (Grosse Pérotte), hooks (Motte de la Garde).^[8]