Pierre Levée, archaeological site in La Jarne, France

Pierre Levée is a dolmen now standing on Place de la Liberté in La Jarne, near the church. It consists of three upright orthostates supporting a massive slab estimated at 4 tonnes. The present arrangement, with an open chamber, differs from the original closed architecture. The stones are pale grey with yellowish patches and dark pitting.

The dolmen was first recorded in 1816 in a field called Le Givrand, on land that then belonged to the neighboring village of Saint-Rogatien. In 1886 it was moved to the Jardin des Plantes in La Rochelle to prevent further damage, then returned to La Jarne in 2001.

The name of this monument is also carried by the local school, which shows how it stays in the daily memory of the village. Today the stones are bare and undecorated, and visitors see them as a simple marker of very old human presence in the area.

The area around the stones is open and grassy, so you can walk all the way around and touch the rough surfaces. Since there are no barriers, a short visit fits easily into a walk through the village center.

A local tale says a ghost could be released only if a specific prayer was said during a procession passing by the stones. Another story claims a small golden calf is hidden beneath the monument, which once led people to dig there in search of it.