Allée couverte de Men-ar-Rumpet
MonumentHidden Treasure
Allée couverte de Men-ar-Rumpet, located in Kerbors (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Kerbors, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.8431, -3.1801
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089209
The Men-ar-Rumpet covered walkway, a stone sentinel that has stood guard over the Trégor region for 5,000 years, reveals the extraordinary building skills of the Neolithic peoples of Armorique.
History
In the heart of the Tréguier peninsula, in the discreet commune of Kerbors bathed by the waters of the Jaudy estuary, the Men-ar-Rumpet covered walkway is one of the most striking megalithic testimonies of the Côtes-d'Armor. Its Breton name, which can be translated as "the stone of the sunken path" or "the stone of the lane", alone evokes the mystery of a monument that Neolithic man shaped with disconcerting precision several millennia before our era. This type of collective burial site, typical of the European Atlantic seaboard between 3,500 and 2,500 BC, is distinguished by its elongated gallery covered with large, carefully arranged slabs of local granite. Men-ar-Rumpet belongs to the family of funerary structures that archaeologists call 'sepulchral alleys', buildings designed to house the remains of several generations of the same community, often over several centuries of use. Far from being simple tombs, these monuments were the scene of complex rituals combining ancestor worship, agrarian rites and cosmology. The visit is both simple and deeply moving. You approach the monument along an unassuming path, set in the typical hedged farmland of inland Trégor, before discovering the massive orthostats erected with quiet authority. Glide your gaze along the gallery, feel the weight of the centuries in the cool shade provided by the roof tables, and you'll come face to face with a vertiginous human continuity. The site, protected since 1957, is freely accessible and invites unhurried contemplation. The natural setting adds an extra dimension to the visit. Kerbors, nestling between the Jaudy estuary and the Trégor moors, offers light that changes with the seasons, and is particularly beautiful at the end of the day when the pink granite takes on golden hues. The monument is set in an area rich in megaliths, just a few kilometres from other remarkable sites in the Tréguier region.
Architecture
The covered alleyway at Men-ar-Rumpet displays the classic morphology of megalithic burials of the 'sepulchral alley' type developed in Armorica during the Final Neolithic. The structure consists of an elongated gallery, oriented on a generally east-west axis like most funerary monuments of this type, bounded by two rows of orthostones - large vertical slabs of local granite - on which rest horizontal covering tables, known as capstones. The whole area originally formed an enclosed space, probably preceded by a bedside slab and a possible vestibule or antechamber separated from the main corridor by a slab pierced by a circular or oval porthole, a characteristic feature of Armorican covered walkways. The granite used is that which naturally outcrops in the Trégor subsoil, a medium-grained rock whose colour varies from bluish-grey to pink depending on the veins mined. The blocks, which are unprocessed but carefully selected for their natural flatness, have undergone minimal shaping, unlike some of the menhirs and decorated slabs at other Breton sites. The average dimensions of a covered alleyway of this type are around eight to fifteen metres long, with an internal width of one to two metres, and a slab height of one to one-and-a-half metres - enough to place the deceased in a huddled or disarticulated position. The entire monument was probably covered by a cairn of dry stone and earth, of which only traces remain today, as time and farming activities have gradually stripped the structure bare. This exposure has given the monument its contemporary 'stone skeleton' appearance, fascinating for the clarity it offers of its internal organisation, but different from its original appearance, where only a mound of earth with a ceremonial entrance was visible from the outside.
Related Figures
Les bâtisseurs néolithiques du Trégor (vers 3500-2500 av. J.-C.) — communautés agropastorales anonymes ayant conçu et érigé le monumentProsper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments historiques au XIXe siècle, initiateur des premiers inventaires mégalithiques en BretagneLe marquis de Robien — érudit breton du XVIIIe siècle, l'un des premiers à cartographier et décrire les monuments mégalithiques des Côtes-du-NordPaul du Châtellier — archéologue finistérien du XIXe siècle dont les méthodes de fouille influencèrent l'étude des allées couvertes armoricainesZacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue morbihannais (1864-1939), figure majeure de la recherche mégalithique bretonne ayant contribué à la reconnaissance scientifique de ce type de monuments
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Allée couverte de Men-ar-Rumpet located?
Allée couverte de Men-ar-Rumpet is located in Kerbors, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Allée couverte de Men-ar-Rumpet open to visitors?
Allée couverte de Men-ar-Rumpet is currently closed to visitors.
