Alignements de menhirs dits Bois du Duc
MonumentHidden Treasure
Alignements de menhirs dits Bois du Duc, located in Spézet (Département 29), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Spézet, Département 29, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.1554, -3.7017
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090451
Standing in the heart of Finistère, the menhirs of the Bois du Duc in Spézet bear witness to a remarkable Neolithic occupation: a preserved Breton alignment, listed as a Historic Monument since 1923.
History
In the heart of inland Finistère, in the commune of Spézet, stretches one of those silent stone processions that are the glory of megalithic Brittany: the alignments of menhirs known as the Bois du Duc. Discreet and less publicised than their Carnac counterparts, these menhirs nonetheless have a striking presence, set in a landscape of hedgerow and undergrowth that reinforces their mysterious, timeless character. What sets the Bois du Duc apart from the great Breton megalithic sites is precisely its intimacy. Where Carnac is overwhelming in its excessiveness, the alignments of Spézet invite a more contemplative approach. The upright stones, often covered in grey lichen and dark moss, seem to have been absorbed by the surrounding forest, as if nature were slowly reclaiming what the Neolithic men had once fought over. This dialogue between mineral and plant gives the site a unique atmosphere, conducive to reflection. Visiting the site is first and foremost a sensory experience: the crunch of dead leaves underfoot, the light filtered through the canopy that plays on the rough sides of the menhirs, the almost absolute tranquillity that is hard to find in crowded tourist sites. Photography enthusiasts will find the light here to be of exceptional quality in the morning, when the morning mist of Central Brittany still envelops the stones in a vaporous halo. Situated in the Poher region, a land of gentle hills and steep-sided rivers that forms the granite heart of Finistère, the site benefits from an unspoilt natural environment. The beech and oak forests surrounding the menhirs are the continuation of a tradition of ancient human occupation, visible in the many other megalithic remains scattered within a radius of a few kilometres. The Bois du Duc is part of a dense archaeological network that makes this region a destination of choice for anyone with a passion for Breton archaeology and prehistory.
Architecture
The Bois du Duc menhir alignments belong to the large family of Breton megalithic monuments, characterised by the exclusive use of local granite, a rock abundant in the Finistère subsoil and particularly well suited to the cutting and transport techniques of the Neolithic period. Menhirs are rough monoliths, quarried from natural outcrops and set vertically in the ground, without any fixtures or mortar, in an alignment that generally follows an oriented axis, possibly linked to astronomical or topographical landmarks. The typical morphology of the menhirs on this type of site in Finistère features blocks of sub-circular or polygonal cross-section, with an irregular surface worked by erosion over thousands of years and covered in lichens, bearing witness to their great age. Their height, as is often the case in the inland alignments of Central Brittany, is more modest than that of the gigantic coastal menhirs: it can be estimated that the best-preserved stones stand between one and three metres above ground level, with the buried part sometimes accounting for a further third of their total volume. The space between the stones follows a regular rhythm, characteristic of deliberate organisation and mastery of the work. The wooded setting of the monument - indicated by its very name, "Duke's Wood" - is an environmental feature that sets this site apart from the majority of Breton alignments built on open moorland. Its location on the edge of the moor or under a canopy of trees has a direct influence on how the alignment is read spatially and how the stones are perceived, creating an effect of depth and natural setting that amplifies the feeling of entering a space charged with an extraordinary temporality.
Related Figures
Populations néolithiques du pays du Poher (bâtisseurs présumés, vers 4000-2500 av. J.-C.)Prosper Mérimée (inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, pionnier de la protection du patrimoine mégalithique breton au XIXe siècle)James Miln (archéologue écossais, pionnier des fouilles mégalithiques en Bretagne dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle)Zacharie Le Rouzic (archéologue breton, inventeur et documentariste des sites mégalithiques du Finistère au début du XXe siècle)Paul du Châtellier (archéologue finistérien, auteur d'un inventaire des monuments préhistoriques du département, fin XIXe siècle)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Alignements de menhirs dits Bois du Duc located?
Alignements de menhirs dits Bois du Duc is located in Spézet, Département 29 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Alignements de menhirs dits Bois du Duc open to visitors?
Alignements de menhirs dits Bois du Duc is currently closed to visitors.