Necropolis at the Pointe de Souc'h

Dolmen with lateral access at the Pointe de Souc'h

The Neolithic necropolis at the Pointe de Souc'h (also called the Menez Dregan necropolis ) is located in the municipality of Plouhinec in Cornouaille in the Finistère department in Brittany in France . From this point the view extends from the Pointe de Penmarc'h to the Île de Sein .

location

About 100 m above the Menez Dregan grotto , which contained finds from the Paleolithic , are the seven dolmens of Souc'h. They can be used to document the architectural development in the construction of tombs. The necropolis , which was listed as Monuments historiques on April 9, 1979 , has four excavated structures. Further excavations are planned, but the remaining facilities are not well preserved. In France, dolmen is the generic term for Neolithic megalithic structures of all kinds (see: French nomenclature ).

Finds

The first excavations were carried out in 1870/71 by A. Grenot, a teacher from Quimper . The finds were given to Paul du Châtellier (1833–1911), one of the founders of French archeology , and are now in the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale in Saint-Germain-en-Laye . Among the additions was a spherical vessel that is now known as the “Vase du Souc'h”.

Pottery was also found from the Middle Ages that is greasy to the touch and is called "poterie onctueuse". It comes from nearby and was probably made in Plonéour-Lanvern (Finistère).

Pointe de Souc'h

description

The most recent excavation campaign began in 2000 under the direction of Michel Le Goffic and lasted seven years. Excavations and restorations made it possible to restore the ground plan of one of the cairns with an almost square chamber (3.8 mx 3.6 m) and a straight corridor that hits the side. It is a "passage grave" ( French dolmen à couloir ) in the form of a "P".

Another installation is of the same type but larger (6.2 mx 4.8 m) and has a corridor 3.75 m long. The excavations have unearthed some finds and a burial site that was overlooked in the 19th century.

The tumulus was created in six construction phases, in which six chambers were created, the oldest being built over.

Allée couverte from Pors Poulhan

The megalithic complex in the nearby Pors Poulhan (also called Allée couverte by Menez Korriged ), a small port that marks the border between the Bigoudenland and the land at Cap Sizun , suffered from the effects of war during the Second World War and was then torn down. Excavations made it possible for M. Le Goffic to restore the monument using the wedges and old photos and sketches. It is a 15-meter-long allée couverte with a very rarely preserved, tapered panel border, comparable to the bow of a ship.

literature

Michel Le Goffic: La nécropole mégalithique de la pointe du Souc'h en Plouhinec (Finistère). Journée “Civilizations Atlantiques et Archéosciences”, pp. 34–36, 2002.
Michel Le Goffic: La nécropole mégalithique de la pointe du Souc'h en Plouhinec (Finistère) (rapport de synthèse de la fouille). Conseil général du Finistère, service départemental d'Archéologie, Le Faou 2006.
Serge Cassen: Material Culture and Chronology of the Middle Neolithic of Western France . In: Oxford Journal of Archeology , Volume 12, 2, pp. 197-208, 2007.