Bretagne stone enclosure
The stone enclosures in Brittany are a rare form of stone setting . In those megalithic complexes in Brittany , which are formed from a large number of menhirs , a distinction is made between alignments (rows of stones), stone circles (also semicircles) and stone enclosures ( enceintes ). The time it was created is unclear.
The unworked monoliths of the stone enclosures are not as powerful as the stand-alone menhirs . They are also available in a square shape ( French Quadrilatère ):
- Crucuno , Coët-ar-Blei (La chaise de Cesar), Er Lannic , Le Narbon, Quadrilatere du Manio and the Monks' Garden ( French Jardin aux Moines - all in the Morbihan department )
- Landaoudec, Lanvéoc, Parc-ar-Varret and Ty-ar-C'huré (the priest's house) near Morgat (in the Finistère department )
- the so-called "pagan temple" on the Ǐle d ' Ouessant (Département Finistère)
The enclosure of Crucuno, near Erdeven (in the Morbihan department ) is oriented towards the cardinal points. In the literature, however, it is speculated that this alignment only came about during a restoration. The formation of Le Manio near Carnac , on the other hand, undoubtedly represents the enclosure of a hill. According to old descriptions, enclosures were supplemented by earthworks and embankments, which have now disappeared. It is unclear whether they played a role in the construction or whether they delimited individual fields from one another.
It is questionable whether the elliptical stone enclosure made of dense stones that PR Giot found under the Neolithic tumulus of La Tossen Ar Run (also Tossen-Keler near Penvenan in the Côtes-d'Armor department ) originally stood in the open air. It was rebuilt in a garden on the Quai of Tréguier . In the prehistoric construction of the enclosure, stones were used that apparently come from destroyed megalithic structures. The fact that the eastern end of the enclosure has been destroyed doesn't hide its relatively geometric shape.
All in all, the relatively small number of preserved or suspected enclosures is surprising, even if one considers that any wooden enclosures have disappeared without leaving any traces. One has to assume that stone enclosures were destroyed by later actions.
literature
- Pierre-Roland Giot: Prehistory in Brittany. Menhirs and dolmens. Editions d'Art Jos le Doaré, Chateaulin 1991, ISBN 2-85543-076-3 .
- Aubrey Burl: Great Stone Circles. Fables, fiction, facts. Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. 1999, ISBN 0-300-07689-4 .