Pen-ar-Lan
The stone circle of Pen-ar-Lan (also called Cromlech de Lann Penn ar Lan or the megalithic egg of Ouessant ) is a monument on a peninsula at the eastern end of the Breton island of Ouessant in the Finistère department in France . The stone circle lies behind Kernoaz near the so-called Paulskreuz.
It is a small cromlech in the shape of an egg with about 13.0 m on the east-west and 10.0 m on the north-south axis. At the beginning of the 20th century, attention was drawn to the monument, which at that time still had two menhirs in the middle. After a rescue excavation in 1988, the building was restored.
The menhirs stand on a roughly 23.0 m high cliff above the sea. During the excavation, the two central menhirs and another block were found, so that the complex gives an authentic impression again today.
The monument does not stand alone, an alignment in the south consisting of four menhirs is supplemented by a vertical system at one end. A large block of quartz could be rebuilt on its old foundation 150 m to the east .
Stone circles are found in great numbers in the British Isles . However, they are rare in Brittany. Here one knows primarily the flooded double circle of Er Lannic , in the Morbihan department . This is why the “megalithic egg” from Ouessant is of great interest.
literature
- Aubrey Burl: A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany . Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. 1995, ISBN 0-300-06331-8 .
- Jacques Briard : Mégalithes de Bretagne . Ouest-France, Rennes 1987, ISBN 2-7373-0119-X .
Coordinates: 48 ° 27 '45.8 " N , 5 ° 2' 15.2" W.