'Older than pyramids' Vale monument may be even more ancient
Thu 21 May 2026
Les Fouaillages is the remains of a prehistoric burial mound where people buried their dead. The best estimates suggest that it was created in about 4800 BC, which is almost 7,000 years ago, which would make this ancient Vale monument older than Stonehenge or the great pyramids of Egypt.
However, the latest application is because the dating of the tomb has always been slightly problematic. Charcoal samples taken at the time of the original excavation in 1979-1981 were not all in secure contexts, and so radiocarbon dates that were obtained at the time might be inaccurate. The proposal in the latest list of local planning applications is to try to obtain further dates.
That will be via a different technique, with minimal disturbance of the deposits left in situ in 1981. The technique to be used is optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. This determines when certain mineral grains (quartz or feldspar) were last exposed to sunlight. The method requires a small diameter tube, about 2cm in width, to be inserted into a deposit of soil that has not been exposed to light since Les Fouaillages dolmen was built on top of it.
The sample is retrieved within the tube and kept dark before being processed in the laboratory.
More about planning application FULL/2026/0740 can be found here.
A lot more information about the ancient monument can be found in the download section below.
Anyone with any comments is asked to contact https://www.gov.gg/contact_us_planning
using the online form there.