Dissignac tumulus
The 1873 discovered tumulus Dissignac (also Bosse de la Prière called) is located five kilometers west of Saint-Nazaire in the Loire-Atlantique in the region Pays de la Loire in France .
It covers two dolmens with parallel corridors, each eleven meters long. In France, dolmen is the generic term for megalithic structures of all kinds (see: French nomenclature ). The three meter high tumulus was excavated by J. L'Helgouach in the 1970s. He was able to demonstrate two construction phases. Around 4500 BC Two dolmens, which are among the earliest megalithic structures ever, were built side by side. Their corridor axes were aligned with the winter solstice. In a second phase, around 3000 BC. BC, these corridors were lengthened. The original plate facade was secured by stone walls, which have the current, step-shaped structure of the tumulus, which reaches a diameter of 28 m. The rich ceramic finds inside indicate that the complex was in use from the older to the younger Neolithic (between 4500 and 2500 BC).
The smaller of the two burial chambers , which widens in a V-shape, is covered with a granite slab with engravings of axes and crooks, reminiscent of the dolmen in the Morbihan department . The larger one forms a coaxial end chamber, which gives the dolmen a P-shape, as can also be found in Min Goh Ru (Larcuste).
tourism
The Route Bleue ( German "Blue Route" ) runs through Saint-Nazaire and has eleven important prehistoric megalithic monuments . Underneath is the Dissignac tumulus (as No. 1). Among the dolmens of the Croix de Sandun (3), the Kerbourg (4), the du Riholo (5), that of the Rossignol (6), the tumulus of Mousseaux west of Pornic (9), the dolmen de la Joselière (10) and the Dolmen du Pré d'Air (11), nos. 9-11 on the Pays de Rets are particularly well known. There are also three menhirs: the menhir from Bissin (No. 2), the 2.1 m high Pierre de Couche (7) and the approximately 2.7 m high menhir de la Pierre Attelée , (8), which has been considered historical since 1992 Monument is classified.
literature
- Jean L'Helgouach, Mégalithes en Loire-Atlantique, Nantes, Association d'Études Préhistoriques et Historiques des Pays de la Loire, 1996, ( ISBN 2-905407-01-8 )
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 16 ′ 15.5 " N , 2 ° 16 ′ 45.5" W.