Dolmen de las Fados, des fées, or the fairies. Over 5000 years' old according to the plaque erected on the site. From the first Iron Age according to other texts which would make it 2600 - 3000 yrs old. The dolmen is one of the finest long corridor style in France with its axis roughly south-west, north-east like many in the Languedoc. First discovered during deep ploughing in 1903 (what were they doing ploughing on top of this hillock ?) and later investigated more thoroughly in 1946 by Odette and Jean Taffanel. The tombs were placed in circular depressions and the funeral urn contained cremated bones and decorative elements such as baked clay beads from necklaces or bronze bracelets. Other urns contained offerings for the dead. Iron artifacts were rare. This dolmen is also known locally as the 'galet de Roland' or sometimes the 'palet de Roland'. It is said that the stone (galet) which Roland de Roncevaux threw from the top of the Serre d'Oupia, was transformed into the dolmen situated at the top of the 'colline des fées' (the fairy hill) near Pepieux. (note the the name 'Palet de Roland' is also applied to one of the dolmens just to the north-east of Villeneuve-Minervois) |