 The dolmen in 2012 | |
  Caixa de Rotllan Location in Occitania, France | |
| Location | Arles-sur-Tech,Occitania,France |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°28′52″N2°36′04″E / 42.48111°N 2.60111°E /42.48111; 2.60111 |
| Type | Dolmen |
| Length | 3 meters |
| Width | 2 meters |
| Height | 1.5 meters |
| History | |
| Material | Granite |
| Founded | c. 2250 BC |
| Periods | Neolithic/Chalcolithic |
| Site notes | |
| Public access | Free |
TheCaixa de Rotllan (meaning "Roland's Tomb" inCatalan) is adolmen inArles-sur-Tech,Pyrénées-Orientales, southern France, dating back to theNeolithic period, during the second half of 3rd millennium BC.
A legend holds that Roland lived inVallespir and that, after his death at the1st Battle of Roncevaux Pass, his horseVeillantif carried Roland's corpse back to Vallespir and buried him under this dolmen. Dolmens are actually tombs, but they were erected many centuries before the legendary knight's adventures.
The Caixa de Rotllan is made of three upright stones in a H-shape, supporting a thick roofing stone and delimiting a rectangular, medium-sized chamber. The entrance faces south-east, as do many other dolmens in Pyrénées-Orientales. The building has been listed as aMonument historique since 1889 but has never beenexcavated byarchaeologists.
The Caixa de Rotllan is one of 148dolmens listed in thePyrénées-Orientales department. Some have been destroyed or are attested by old sources but have been lost and not rediscovered by modern scholars.[1] They are all located in hilly or mountainous areas of the department, usually on amountain pass,ridge or other high ground.[2]
Like others, this dolmen is situated on a ridge line. It is on the southern side of theCanigou, at 830 metres (2,720 ft) above sea level,[3] just beneath agranitic chaos[4] inthe historical and geographical region namedVallespir. It stands on the border betweenFrench communesArles-sur-Tech andMontbolo.[3]
Two ways lead to the dolmen from Arles town. A passable track along theBonabosc river leads near it, but one must leave this track for a 60-metre (66 yd) walk to the dolmen. TheGR 10 footpath also runs near the dolmen. This part of the GR 10 is an old track leading tothe Batère iron ore mines from Arles-sur-Tech. This route takes an hour and a half to walk.[4]
The Caixa de Rotllan is indicated by a star on the 1:25000Institut Géographique National map, indicating acuriosité (French for "curiosity").[3]
Like most of the dolmens in the Pyrénées-Orientales,[6] the Caixa de Rotllan has a simple plan — that is, without a corridor[5] — which relates it to other dolmens from theChalcolithic andBronze Age of the second half of the third millennium BC.[7]
InCatalan,Caixa de Rotllan means "Roland's grave", suggesting that the inhabitants of the region had long known that the dolmen had been used as a grave.[5] Many megaliths in the Pyrénées-Orientales are named after mythic characters such as Roland or his enemies the "Moors" (Catalan:Moros).[8]
Other nearby places are named after Roland. 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) north of theCaixa along the ridgeline lies thePalet de Rotllan ("Roland'sPuck"). It refers to an ancient game namedPalet, in which players had to knock down a target (usually a stick) standing on the ground by throwing a puck (orPalet) at it. According to a legend, Roland played this game, but used huge stones instead of pucks and enjoyed aiming at the castles ofVallespir as targets.[9]
Further to the north lies theabeurador del cavall de Rotllan ("thewatering trough of Roland's horse") where the legendary knight's horseVeillantif used to drink. TheCova d'en Rotllan ("Roland's cave") is another dolmen inCorsavy, a nearbycommune[9] where Roland used to rest.[8]
According toThe Song of Roland, Roland and his friendsOliver andTurpin died at theBattle of Roncevaux Pass and their corpses were brought to and buried in theBasilica of St. Romain, inBlaye, byCharlemagne. Another legend tells that Veillantif brought the corpse of his master to theVallespir near the place where he used to playpalet. A tomb was built there: it is the Caixa de Rotllan. Many places in this region are named after thepawprints left by Veillantif.[10]
The Caixa de Rotllan may have been erected during theChalcolithic or the beginning of theBronze Age, during the second half of the 3rd millennium BC.
During theMiddle Ages it marked the boundary between Arles and Montbolo.[5] The current boundary between these twocommunes runs very near the dolmen.[3]
The first paper that mentioned this dolmen was an article written byJean-Baptiste Renard de Saint-Malo in 1837 and entitledMonument druidique (entre Arles etBatère) ("Druidic monument between Arles and Batère"). But Renard de Saint-Malo seems to have confused theCaixa with another stone, the nearbypalet of Roland.[9]Louis Companyo'sHistoire naturelle du département des Pyrénées-Orientales ("Natural History of the Pyrénées-Orientales Département"), in 1861, corrected this mistake, noting that thepalet is not a dolmen and warning its readers against the frequent confusion between some natural stones and dolmens.[11][12] The first scientific description of theCaixa was made by Alexandre-Félix Ratheau in 1866, in «Note sur un monument celtique du département» ("Note On A Celtic Monument Of The Département") published in theBulletin de la Société agricole, scientifique et littéraire des Pyrénées-Orientales. At this time, people thought that dolmens had been built by theCelts.[9] In his paper, Ratheau, a French engineer and author of several books on fortications, recorded the dolmen's dimensions, its orientation relative to the north and a plan with three elevation cuts.[13] Ratheau said that thepalet was made of pieces of abandoned granite grindstones and clarified Companyo's correction. Indeed, reading Companyo's paper, people may have thought that noCaixa de Rotllan dolmen existed.[12] In 1887, an engraving, made from a photograph, of the dolmen was published inLa création de l'Homme et premiers âges, byHenri Raison du Cleuziou.[9] In 1889, theCaixa de Rotllan was classified as aMonument historique.[14]
