Gallery grave with side access
The architectural style of the French gallery tombs with side access ( French sépultures mégalithiques à entrée latérale ) was only recently defined, although several monuments were examined as early as the late 19th century. They are west-east oriented gallery graves with elongated, rectangular or trapezoidal chambers; in the latter case the west end of the chamber is wider and higher. The south-facing corridor is mostly shifted towards the eastern (narrower) end. The galleries were encircled by rectangular stone-framed megalithic beds .
The origin of the architecture of the separation between aisle and chamber is already clear in some conventional, older gallery graves. On the Île Guennoc , some gallery graves in Cairn III have oval chambers made of dry stone , in Cairn II the square chambers are already megalithic. Both systems already show a tendency to lengthen the chambers across the axis. In the north of Brittany , the T-shaped dolmen of Boutouiller can be seen as a link between the classic form of access and the facilities with side access. Its passage is almost 5.0 meters long and one end of the chamber, which is also about 5.0 m long, is wider and higher. The corridor is covered by a lintel , similar to those in the Crec'h Quillé and Melus systems , so its design is similar to that of the side-entry systems. This development is continued by reducing the aisle, but also by changing the internal dimensions. The Allée couverte from Corn-er-Houët has a preserved soul hole access .
The Allée couverte from Petit-Vieux-Sou in the Mayenne department has a rectangular chamber that is 1.5 m wide and high over its entire length. The straight passage on the side is on the long southwest side in the middle of the chamber. The transition between the corridor and the chamber is formed by a soul hole that was cut into the halves of two adjacent panels. Similar soul holes can be seen at the Corn-er-Houët and Coët-Correc facilities in the center of Brittany.
Although there are links between facilities with side access, such as the Lestriguiou dolmen and the Kerugou ceramics in northern Brittany, the cultural forms are different. Quessoy Brécé ceramics dominate, with pots with a round or flat bottom. Other equipment includes pendants, polished axes, raw or retouched blades and daggers . They are fairly close to the end Neolithic forms of the Eteauville style or Île Briand , which can be found from the Loire valley to the north coast and in the north-west of the Morbihan department . Galleries with side access are just as rare in France as in Wartberg culture facilities in Germany. The dolmen of Chantebrault IV near Loudun in the Vienne department is just one example south of the Loire.
literature
- J. L'Helgouach: Les sépultures mégalithiques à entrée latérale. In: Problems of megalithic grave research. Lectures on the 100th birthday of Vera Leisner (= Madrid Research Vol. 16). de Gruyter, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-11-011966-8 , pp. 103-104.