Dolmen de Bouéry EarthCache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(not chosen)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Dolmen de Bouéry
N46 17.563 E1 18.317
The region Limousin lies in Central France.
With 16942 km2 it is the 16th biggest region in France.
Limousin borders on the north at the region Centre, the west at Poitou-Charentes and Aquitanien, the south at Midi-Pyrénées and the sast at the Auvergne. The relief is mountainous. It is dominated by the mountains of the Marche and the foothills from the Centralmassives. The terraceformed granited uplands fall always from east to west.
The highest upland is the Montagne Limousine with 1000 metres high.
The Plateaux de Millevaches and the Monédières with 900 metres high.
In the whole neighbourhood You can still find prehistoric remains like menhirs and dolmen.
A dolmen (also known as cromlech, anta, Hünengrab, Hunebed, quoit, and portal dolmen) is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of three or more upright stones (megaliths) supporting a large flat horizontal capstone (table). Most date from the early Neolithic period (4000 BC to 3000 BC). Dolmens were usually covered with earth or smaller stones to form a barrow, though in many cases that covering has weathered away, leaving only the stone "skeleton" of the burial mound intact.
Megalithic tombs are found from the Baltic Sea and North Sea coasts south to Spain and Portugal. Hunebedden are chamber tombs similar to dolmens and date to the middle Neolithic (Funnelbeaker culture, 4th millennium BC). They consist of a kerb surrounding an oval mound which covered a rectangular chamber of stones with the entrance on one of the long sides. Some have a more complex layout and include an entrance passage giving them a T-shape. It has been suggested that this means they are related to the passage graves found in Denmark and elsewhere.
Dolmen sites fringe the Irish Sea and are found in south-east Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall. In Ireland, however, dolmens are more to be found on the west coast, particularly in the Burren and Connemara, where some of the more well-known examples, such as Poulnabrone, are to be found. Examples have also been found in northern Ireland where they may have co-existed with the court cairn tombs. It is thought that the dolmens themselves evolved from a simpler cist burial method.
A great many examples can also be found on the Channel Island of Jersey, such as 'La Pouquelaye de Faldouet', 'La Hougue des Géonnais' and 'La Sergeanté'. The most famous of these sites is 'La Hougue Bie' a 6,000 year old neolithic site that sits inside a large mound; later a chapel was built on the top of the mound.
Amongst the vast Neolithic collections of the Carnac stones in Brittany, France, several dozen dolmens are found. And all around the country, several dolmens still stand, such as the ones of Passebonneau and des Gorces near Saint-Benoît-du-Sault.
In Spain dolmens can be found in Galicia (such as Axeitos, pictured below), Catalonia (like Romanyà de la Selva or Creu d'en Cobertella) and Andalusia (like the Cueva de Menga).
Dolmens can be found all over Portugal, from simple ones [1] to the more complex examples of megalithic architecture, such as the Almendres Cromlech or the Anta Grande do Zambujeiro.
In Mecklenburg and Pomerania (Germany) and Drenthe (The Netherlands), large numbers of these graves were disturbed when harbours, towns, and cities were built. The boulders were used in construction and road building. There are still many thousands left today in Europe; for example, more than a thousand stand on the island of Rügen alone.
In Italy dolmens can be found in the south (Puglia) and in Sardinia.
In Bulgaria there are many dolmens, and more are being recorded by archaeologists.
The largest dolmen in Europe is the Brownshill Dolmen in County Carlow, Ireland. Its capstone weighs about 150 tonnes.
For logging make a photo from yourself at the dolmen and do this at the log and answer after that the following question by mail:
The diameter from the capstone and how many support stones.
Logs without a photo and without the right answer will be removed.
Much fun Stapper.
An Earthcache is an educational form of a virtual cache. The reward for these caches is learning more about the planet on which we live - its landscapes, its geology or the minerals and fossils that are found there. Earthcaches are developed in association with the Geological Society of America. For more information go to (visit link)
Look also at the other caches I have made:
GCJ16T, Go for a walk across border. (visit link)
GCHKDC, Zitterd’s Gevelstenen. (visit link)
GCHGMJ, RoadRunner Route. (visit link)
GCP89G. Oppe Windraak I. (visit link)
GCP89P. Oppe Windraak II. (visit link)
GCMGAX, Langs het Water. (visit link)
GCQMGN, Don Quichotte und die Windmuehlen, (visit link)
GCN4D5, Schutterspark, en zijn verleden. (visit link)
GCQ5A1, Friedenskapelle. (visit link)
GC73D5, Rode Beek. (visit link)
GCRB3A, Begegnung met der Vergangenheit. (visit link)
GC106CJ, De Paleolithische vuursteenmijn van Rijckholt. (visit link)
GC106FF, De Heimansgroeve (visit link)
GC105PV, Geologisch monument “Cottessergroeve”, (visit link)
GC18FZY, Menhir de Ceinturat. (visit link)
GC18ZB2, Dolmen de Bouéry. (visit link)
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)