Les Pierres-Plates

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Les Pierres-Plates ( German for  "flat stones" ) is a megalithic site near Locmariaquer in the Morbihan department in Brittany in France . The Neolithic building was declared a Monument historique in 1889 . Knickdolmen are known in only seven copies ( Dolmen von Goërem ), all of which are about 100 km in length between the mouths of the Loire (near Saint-Nazaire ) and the Blavet (near Lorient ) and around 3000 BC. Were created. An Allée couverte named Dolmen de la Pierre Plate is located in the Val-d'Oise department .

Les Pierres-Plates - access with a so-called ' Menhir indicateur'

location

The dolmen coudé ( French bent ) Les Pierres-Plates is located in the dunes just a few meters above a sandy beach in the south of the Locmariaquer peninsula. Les Pierres Plates (Anglards-de-Salers) is a dolmen in the Cantal department .

investment

The dolmen of Les Pierres-Plates was probably originally covered by a mound of earth and / or stone ( cairn ), which was removed over time - probably by human hands. Three missing capstones in the area of ​​the kink were replaced during extensive restoration work under the direction of Zacharie Le Rouzic (1864-1939) in 1931. The renewal of the quarry stone walls and the lateral filling of sand and earth also date from this time.

Les Pierres-Plates - end of the corridor with partition plate; the - not widened - main chamber and the end of the corridor area are covered by a single, slightly downwardly curved, large capstone, which is probably to be regarded as a part of a forcibly overturned grand menhir.

Alignment

The main part of the "Dolmen à Coudé" (elbow dolmen) is oriented in a south-easterly direction; This orientation can be found in many dolmens in Brittany (including the dolmen of Goërem in the Morbihan and the "Dolmen of Keravel" near Saint-Pol-de-Léon in the Finistère department ). The bend (added later?) Changed the orientation of the entrance area to the south.

architecture

The approximately 24 m long and bent by about 120 ° system is known as a kinked dolmen ( dolmen coudé ). Behind the entrance, which is only 1.40 m high, it encompasses a straight area six meters long. Behind the bend, from which a small side chamber branches off in a westerly direction, the corridor leads - with a slightly rising head height - into the approximately 1.75 m high main chamber. The main chamber, which is completely covered by a large, slightly curved capstone - probably a section of a former menhir - is no wider than the corridor and is separated from the corridor area by a large vertical plate. Large parts of the wall surfaces and the space above the supporting stones ( orthostats ) are filled with small rubble stones.

Stones

Almost all 38 bearing stones and 7 cap stones from Les Pierres-Plates are made of granite . Only four stones - including the capstone of the chamber - are made of orthogneiss and are probably to be regarded as parts of an intentionally broken grand menhir (cf. Gavrinis , Table des Marchand , Er Grah , Mané Rutual, etc.).

ornamentation

Les Pierres-Plates - 'Schildidol' with rib structure
Les Pierres-Plates - 'Schildidol' with breasts (?)

From the entrance, several - previously smoothed - bearing stones are covered with engravings, which as a special form of the so-called 'shield idols' (scutiforms) may represent fertility goddesses with multiple 'breasts'. The rib-like shapes of other stones, on the other hand, were viewed as palms or scarabs at a time when it was believed to be everywhere Egyptian influences . However, this is possibly the theme of the mother goddess , which is also varied in other kinked dolmen in the Morbihan . It is also found in structures such as the Keravel dolmen (assumed), Rocher au Bono-Plouguemelen, Goërem dolmen in Gâvres or in the gallery tomb of Luffang in Crac'h . Here the representation is more reminiscent of a Mediterranean cephalopod.

An ornamented bearing stone from the dolmen of Les Pierres-Plates was transferred to the Musée de Préhistoire in Carnac for protection .

Menhir

At the entrance to the building there is a so-called menhir indicateur , which is a rather atypical stone with a flattened tip and a flat tip that was erected during the restoration campaign in 1931. T. right-angled edges. As can be seen in old photographs, the stone was directly in front of the entrance to the building. It is unclear whether this stone with its unusual shape ever stood upright and possibly served as a landmark for the seafarers of prehistoric times.

Dating

The dolmen of Pierres-Plates is believed by most researchers - but mostly without giving a reason - to the later Neolithic, i. H. in the period between 3500 and 3000 BC BC, dated. Deviations from a developed shape that has been handed down over centuries (here the side chamber and the kink) are often dated later. But both the reuse of parts of older menhirs and the ornamentation put Les Pierres-Plates in a row with the other dolmens in the Morbihan, which - according to the current state of research - dates from between 4200 and 4000 BC. Be classified. The question of whether the kinked entrance area and the side chamber are possibly later additions is hardly asked.

meaning

The dolmen of Les Pierres-Plates, famous for its engravings, is a good example of possible modifications of the originally straight dolmen. The lack of an enlarged main chamber distinguishes it from other megalithic structures in the Morbihan. Altogether there are eight more articulated dolmen on the Breton coast between Lorient and the Loire estuary.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dolmen des Pierres-Plates, Locmariaquer in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)

literature

  • Damien Bonniol, Serge Cassen: Corpus descriptif des stèles ou fragments de stèle en orthogneiss. In: Serge Cassen (ed.): Autour de la Table. Explorations archéologiques et discours savants sur des architectures néolithiques à Locmariaquer, Morbihan. Laboratoire de recherches archéologiques (LARA) - University of Nantes, Nantes 2009, ISBN 978-2-86939-228-1 , pp. 702–734 , here pp. 719 ff.
  • Jacques Briard : Mégalithes de Bretagne. Ouest-France, Rennes 1987, ISBN 2-7373-0119-X .
  • Marcel Baudouin: Les allées couvertes coudées. In: Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française. Vol. 14, No. 8, 1917, pp. 391-405 .

Web links

Commons : Les Pierres Plates  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '24 "  N , 2 ° 57' 3"  W.