Deux menhirs
MonumentHidden Treasure
Deux menhirs, located in Camors (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Camors, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.8325, -3.0204
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091070
Sentinelles de pierre dressées à l'orée des forêts morbihannaises, les deux menhirs de Camors veillent depuis plus de 5 000 ans sur un territoire chargé de mémoire néolithique, classés Monument Historique depuis 1934.
History
In the heart of Morbihan, a department with the densest megalithic constellation in Europe, the two menhirs of Camors stand like silent witnesses to a civilisation whose mysteries we are still struggling to unravel. Built during the Neolithic period, between 4500 and 2500 BC, these Breton granite monoliths belong to the long tradition of standing stones dotted around inland Brittany, often forgotten in favour of their famous neighbours at Carnac or Locmariaquer, but no less striking in their solitude and austerity. What sets the menhirs of Camors apart is precisely their location in an unspoilt environment, away from the major tourist concentrations of the Morbihan coastline. Here, the visitor discovers a direct communion with the hedged and forested landscape characteristic of the Pays de Pontivy, where moorland and woodland compete for the horizon. The presence of two menhirs side by side - rather than an isolated monolith - suggests a particular intention on the part of their builders, perhaps to mark out a territory, an astronomical alignment or a ritual landmark within a wider network of sacred sites. The visitor experience offers a rare form of simplicity: no enclosure, no museum infrastructure, just a raw face-to-face encounter with stone and time. Walking along the path that leads to the menhirs, the attentive visitor can see how these monoliths interact with the surrounding relief, oriented along axes that archaeoastronomers are still studying. The low-angled morning or evening light reveals their textures, the golden lichens that colonise the grey granite and the crevices that bear witness to thousands of years of Armorican weathering. In the Camors region, several other Neolithic remains - dolmens, burial mounds and covered walkways - complete an archaeological picture of unsuspected richness. The two menhirs are part of this invisible network linking the farming communities of the Neolithic period, builders of stone cathedrals long before the word cathedral existed. Listed as Historic Monuments by decree on 22 August 1934, they have been protected for almost a century, guaranteeing their survival for future generations.
Architecture
The two menhirs at Camors are rough granite monoliths, typical of the megalithic architecture of inland Brittany. Carved from this coarse-grained grey crystalline rock, which is abundant in the Morbihan subsoil, they have a slender silhouette, tapering slightly towards the top, in the so-called "spur" morphology frequently found in the region's alignments and isolated menhirs. Their height, estimated at between two and four metres above ground level, places them in the category of medium-sized menhirs - modest compared to giants like the Grand Menhir Brisé at Locmariaquer, but with enough presence to dominate the surrounding vegetation and be visible from a distance. The surface of each monolith bears the marks of time: clumps of yellowish and greyish lichen colonise the granite, creating a natural polychromy that varies according to sun exposure. No engraved ornamentation has been formally recorded on these two stones - unlike some Morbihan menhirs decorated with hollowed-out motifs (axes, serpentiforms, crooks) - but a detailed examination of their faces under grazing light could potentially reveal traces of decoration erased by millennia of erosion. The siting of the two menhirs probably reflects a deliberate orientation, as is the case for the majority of Breton megalithic monuments. The axis of their placement could correspond to significant solar or lunar phenomena - solstices, equinoxes - according to archaeoastronomical practice that is now well documented for the Armorican Neolithic. The distance between them and their relative arrangement in the landscape are themselves an architectural language that Neolithic builders mastered with remarkable precision.
Related Figures
Prosper Mérimée — Inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques au XIXe siècle, grand défenseur du patrimoine mégalithique bretonJames Miln — archéologue écossais installé à Carnac, pionnier des fouilles mégalithiques morbihannaises à la fin du XIXe siècleZacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue carnacois, continuateur de Miln et inventorieur majeur des menhirs du MorbihanThéophile Malo de La Tour d'Auvergne — premier celtisant breton, promoteur de la mémoire mégalithique armoricaine au XVIIIe siècleLes bâtisseurs néolithiques du Morbihan — communautés agropastorales anonymes qui, entre 4500 et 2500 av. J.-C., érigèrent les plus grands ensembles mégalithiques d'Europe occidentale
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Deux menhirs located?
Deux menhirs is located in Camors, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Deux menhirs open to visitors?
Deux menhirs is currently closed to visitors.
