“A magical place”: in this Périgord forest, menhirs and dolmens emerge from oblivion

A small group of enthusiasts watches over the megaliths of Saint-Geyrac in the hope of learning more about this site, rediscovered in 2015 and which could prove to be quite exceptional.

"And my stones, don't you take pictures of them?" Josette Galinat was wandering the hillsides of her village of Saint-Geyrac, in the Dordogne, documenting the presence of sinkholes—cavities dug by erosion in limestone soils—when a farmer called out to her with this joke. It was in 2015 , and she hasn't forgotten the moment. Her curiosity piqued, she followed her guide toward a steep forest.

“When I saw the first rocks, I immediately thought there was something there.” Continuing to climb, she came across a large block surprisingly nestled in a crater, an enormous rock as if placed in the heart of a depression, a little further on some menhirs (large upright stones) and at the end of a trench, a dolmen (table-shaped assembly)…

Disturbing evidence of human occupation in the Neolithic period, between 5,800 and 2,500 years before our era, at the beginnings of agriculture, while the beginnings of the "official" history of Saint-Geyrac only date back to the 12th century.

Although she knew her way around Périgord, Josette Galinat had never found any trace or heard of this place.

"It's a magical place. I love coming here, enjoying the silence, its energy. I caress the stones: you can see that they are smooth in places. I imagine the men and women of the time placing their hands and walking around this block," confides the octogenarian.

This forest of megaliths (1) never ceases to captivate her. She devotes hours and hours to it, between research, procedures and cleaning, taking along her relatives (her grandson and son-in-law, Damien and Philippe, in the lead) and her friends from the Saint-Geyracois Internet Users Committee (CIS).

The former teacher of the single class in Saint-Geyrac says: "I knew that my former students used to go there to play war when they were kids, they enjoyed going under the dolmen. But it collapsed because of a falling tree during the storm of 1999."

"The body was placed under this shelter or left to decompose elsewhere and then the bones were brought in."

She also learned that the site had actually been documented in 1905, by a certain Justin-Léonard Béchade, before sinking back into oblivion... and undergoing one or more dynamitings! "It was in the 1920s. The current owner's grandfather wanted to salvage some stone for his paths," says Josette Galinat. "The pink sandstone is so hard that he probably didn't get much out of it... He stopped, fortunately. But the cromlech [Editor's note: a circle] of 12 menhirs described by Béchade suffered."

"We were able to have a geophysical study carried out, thanks to grants," explains Jean Duvaleix, another member of the CIS. The site was also the subject of a survey by Michel Leduc, of the Monpazier Archaeological Group . For him, it could be a ceremonial site with "symbolic, ritualistic, initiatory or even therapeutic" uses of the stones.

Although the cromlech, which is said to be unique in the Dordogne, is far from being authenticated, "the place is already exceptional," says Anne Hambücken, a doctor of physical and biological anthropology.

Historian Dominique Pauvert saw a rare burial under a slab in the dolmen and traces of human construction within it. "Excavations would be needed to be sure there are bones," Anne Hambücken continues, explaining: "The body was placed under this shelter or left to decompose elsewhere and then the bones were brought in, which complicates our work with incomplete, disordered skeletons."

The woods of Saint-Geyrac have not yet revealed all their secrets...

(1) All visits must be made via the CIS, which requests the agreement of the owners (email to [email protected]). For the Heritage Days, Saturday September 20, you can discover the megaliths through a photo exhibition from 10 a.m. in the church of Saint-Geyrac. Anne Hambücken will give a conference at 2:30 p.m. in the library . At 6:30 p.m., the church will vibrate to the sounds of the guitars of the duo Cordes romantiques… Only the concert will be paid (Prices: 12 euros for adults, free for children under 6).