(Click on the different elements)

It is evident that the monuments in this megalithic complex are aligned on an axis roughly 8 Kms long; at the southern most point of which there are three standing stones (Three Menhirs of Oppagne) and at the northern most extent is one standing stone (The Menhir of Ozo). All these monuments are built from slabs of the rock called puddingstone placed on a bed of limestone. This area of limestone plateau is called The Calestienne.

On this map you will notice that the alignment lies on a stretch of land with an axis azimuth of about 27° with a series of other, parallel alignments. At the time of the discovery of the Dolmen of Oppagne (Wéris II) in 1888 an alignment was noticed between the Dolmen of Wéris (Wéris I) and the Dolmen of Oppagne (Wéris II). Archeologist François Hubert (Hubert, 1985b, p. 22) tried to explain this alignment: - for he had noticed five lines parallel with the main alignment between Wéris I and Wéris II. These lines exist between at least two megaliths (written in black on the map) and the erratiques Stainier * (in red dots on the map).

*Many rock slabs, recorded by geologists Dupont (1885) and Stainier (1902) have since disappeared; these missing slabs are referred to as the “erratiques Stainier” – (Hubert 1991, p 42-43). In the eighth edition of the Archéologie Luxembourgeoise, François Hubert gives a detailed explanation of the megalithic site of Wéris (Hubert, 2000, p7)

The main alignment (brown line) is the one that connects the northern gallery grave Dolmen of Wéris (Wéris I) to the southern gallery grave Dolmen of Oppagne (Wéris II). A parallel green line starts at the three standing stones – Three Menhirs of Oppagne and is connected to one of the erratiques Stainier some 50 metres west of the main alignment formed by the gallery graves. The alignment with the most standing stones is certainly the blue line which is east of the main alignment; it starts at the five standing stones of the southern  grave Dolmen of Oppagne (Wéris II), passes the original site of the standing stone Danthine Menhir, then passes two other standing stones in The Long Stone Field (Champ de la Longue Pierre), then passes the standing stone Menhir of Morville and finally ends at the standing stone in Heyd – Menhir of Heyd.


If we combine these alignments with some other areas, such as the Pierre Haina, we can hypothesize that these monuments combine the five parallel alignments with some geometric shapes to make a field of megaliths in the form of a parallelogram, a quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides. This parallelogram links four elements: - the northern gallery grave Dolmen of Wéris (Wéris I), the natural vertical rock Pierre Haina, the natural stone Pierre Saint-Nicolas and, the three standing stones – the Three Menhirs of Oppagne. 

The Pierre Haina is not a menhir; rather it is an outcrop of rock displaced at an altitude of 370 metres by geological activity. On the map you can find the Pierre Haina on the east side of the northern gallery grave Dolmen of Wéris (Wéris I) which is at an altitude of 250 metres. Between the Pierre Haina with the Dolmen of Wéris (Wéris I) is an equinoctial line: that is to say that at sunset on the 21st September – the autumn equinox -  the final rays of the sun pass over the northern gallery grave Dolmen of Wéris and end at the Pierre Haina.

 Similarly, at sunrise on the 21st June – the summer solstice – observers at the Three Menhirs of Oppagne will see the first rays of the rising sun coming over the Pierre Haina.

From these facts can we conclude that the Pierre Haina is a reference point some 5000 years old? Was it used to calculate the positioning of the megalithic monuments?

The archeologist François Hubert researched and studied the phenomenon of the combination of the parallel alignments and the geometric forms that make up the megalithic field of Wéris.

Whilst it may not be certain that we can draw rational conclusions from his work, it certainly gives rise to several interesting hypotheses.

•    Did the early farmers of Wéris use the stones as some kind of agricultural calendar?

•    Are these relics testament to the technical ingenuity of the stone-age population?

•    Does the NNE to SSW alignment of this megalithic field deliberately follow the axis of the limestone plateau on which they were built, or is it simply a coincidence?