The megalithic site of Wéris

On the Calestienne plateau which stretches between the Famenne and the Ardenne, the megalithic field of Wéris forms an alignment of about 8 km long and 300 m wide.

Classified as an exceptional heritage site in Wallonia, it consists of two “covered alley” type dolmens and five sites of menhirs made of pudding stone (Oppagne, Danthine, Morville, Heyd and Ozo).

The Dolmens (“stone tables”) are collective tombs in which the dead were laid.

As for the Menhirs (“long stones”), they may have had several functions: boundary markers or signposts, commemorative steles…

At Wéris, their construction dates from the end of the Neolithic period (around 3,000-2,800 BC), a period of prehistory that saw man become sedentary and practise animal husbandry and agriculture.

It is not clear what significance this alignment has. Perhaps we should associate these monuments with the natural rocks on the hillside (such as the “Haina Stone”). As a sort of visual marker in the landscape, did the ensemble form a “calendar” linked to the course of the sun during the periods of the equinoxes and solstices?

For more information, see our heritage sheet.