Allée couverte du bourg et menhir indicateur
MonumentHidden Treasure
Allée couverte du bourg et menhir indicateur, located in Ploufragan (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Ploufragan, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.4877, -2.7938
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089475
Vestige néolithique exceptionnel de Ploufragan, cette allée couverte associée à son menhir indicateur témoigne d'une civilisation funéraire et rituelle vieille de plus de 5 000 ans, au cœur de la Bretagne des pierres levées.
History
In the heart of the commune of Ploufragan, in the Côtes-d'Armor region, the covered alleyway of the village stands like a silent testimony to a bygone era. A collective funerary monument built in the Neolithic period, probably between 3,500 and 2,500 BC, it is one of a constellation of megaliths that have made Brittany one of the major centres of European prehistory. What makes it so special is the rare and precious combination of a collective burial site and an indicator menhir, a raised stone that probably signalled to the living the way to this place dedicated to the dead. The building consists of an elongated chamber bounded by large granite slabs set in the ground, topped by covering tables that form a dark corridor ideal for meditation. This type of architecture, typical of Neolithic Armorica, housed the bone remains of several generations of the same community, in a cyclical concept of life and death that archaeologists have gradually reconstructed. The nearby menhir lends further credence to the hypothesis that this was an organised cult site, with the raised stone marking a cosmological or territorial axis. To visit the covered alleyway in the village is to experience the vertigo of time. The grey, lichen-covered granite slabs retain an austerity that commands respect. The atmosphere is both intimate and solemn: you bend down to enter the sepulchral space, place your hand on the stone and physically measure the thickness of the millennia. The monument, listed since 1952, has been preserved within the urban fabric of Ploufragan, giving the visit an unexpected dimension: crossing the Neolithic period between two streets of a modern town. The green setting and low-angled light at the end of the day emphasise the power of the megalithic structures with particular eloquence. Photographers and prehistory enthusiasts will find plenty to contemplate here, but the site also lends itself to a family's first discovery, which is educational and accessible without any special equipment.
Architecture
The covered alleyway at Ploufragan has the classic morphology of collective megalithic burials of the Armorican type: an elongated corridor several metres long, bounded on either side by orthostats - large vertical slabs of granite set in the ground - and covered by horizontal tables of the same type. The total length of the chamber was probably between six and twelve metres, in line with the usual dimensions of Breton covered walkways, with an interior width of around one to one and a half metres, allowing bodies to be laid in a lying or curled-up position. The granite used came from local outcrops characteristic of the Armorican subsoil. The work involved reveals a remarkable technical mastery: the orthostats are selected for their flatness and relatively even thickness, then erected in trenches before being wedged in place with smaller blocks. The roofing slabs, which can weigh several tonnes, were hoisted onto the orthostats using earthen ramps and wooden levers, using techniques that experimental archaeology has enabled us to understand better. The indicator menhir is the second architectural element in the complex. A slender standing stone, it is distinguished by its deliberate verticality and its topographical position, calculated to be visible from a certain distance. Its rough, barely roughed-up shaft reflects the essential aesthetic of megalithic culture: it is the presence of the standing stone, its tension towards the sky, that is important, rather than its ornamentation.
Related Figures
Bâtisseurs néolithiques armoricains (3500-2500 av. J.-C.) — communautés anonymes d'agriculteurs à l'origine du monumentPaul du Châtellier (1833-1911) — archéologue finistérien pionnier de l'inventaire des mégalithes bretonsZacharie Le Rouzic (1864-1939) — fouilleur et conservateur des monuments de Carnac, dont les méthodes influencèrent l'étude de tout le mégalithisme armoricainJacques Briard (1933-2002) — préhistorien breton, auteur de synthèses majeures sur les mégalithes des Côtes-d'ArmorAndré Malraux — ministre des Affaires culturelles sous la Ve République, sous l'impulsion de qui la politique de classement MH fut systématisée et valorisée
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Allée couverte du bourg et menhir indicateur located?
Allée couverte du bourg et menhir indicateur is located in Ploufragan, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Allée couverte du bourg et menhir indicateur open to visitors?
Allée couverte du bourg et menhir indicateur is currently closed to visitors.
