The present article deals with signs of protohistoric occupations discovered in the northern suburbs of the French town of Poitiers, in a place known as « La Folie ». It concentrates in particular on a singularly shaped structure, which we think was used to collect water from rivulets. At the bottom of this structure, which contains furnishings from the Early Iron Age, was found a complete, coherent skeleton of an equid. It would seem to have been discarded rather than « disposed » and its presence is probably due to sanitary rather than symbolic concerns.Through restitution and comparative analysis, the emphasis is placed on the workings of this structure and its role within this site, which also contains an enclosure, some silos and buildings with varying layouts. The wider context of the site itself and its integration into the local chronocultural context is also discussed.