Deux menhirs couchés
MonumentHidden Treasure
Deux menhirs couchés, located in Île-d'Houat (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Île-d'Houat, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.3901, -2.9682
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091300
In the heart of the wild island of Houat, two recumbent menhirs bear witness to a human presence dating back 5,000 years. These granite sentinels, listed in 1931, are one of the most isolated megalithic remains in Brittany.
History
Off the coast of the Rhuys peninsula, the island of Houat conceals a treasure that few visitors realise when they land on its immaculate beaches: two recumbent menhirs, the silent remains of a Neolithic civilisation that inhabited this area long before the sea finally isolated the island from the mainland. Lying on the windswept Breton moors, these granite monoliths are one of the most southerly examples of megalithism in Morbihan, just a stone's throw from the Gulf of Morbihan, a world-renowned centre of Neolithic architecture. What makes these two menhirs so special is their position - lying down, perhaps felled by humans in ancient times, perhaps overturned by time or the subsidence of the ground - which gives them a special aura, somewhere between abandonment and mystery. Unlike the alignments at Carnac or the spectacular dolmens in the region, these stones do not seek demonstrative grandeur. They offer themselves discreetly to the eye of those who know how to look for them, nestling in the low moorland vegetation dominated by broom and heather. The visiting experience is as much about the journey as the discovery itself. Getting to Houat means taking the boat from Quiberon or La Turballe, which makes the visit a gentle adventure. Once on the island, the absence of cars - only a few service vehicles circulate - and the omnipresence of wind and sea spray create a timeless atmosphere, conducive to contemplating these monuments that seem to belong to the island as much as to humanity. For fans of prehistory and Breton megalithism, these two menhirs are part of a wider itinerary that includes the giants of Carnac, the Er Grah burial mounds in Locmariaquer and the cairns on the neighbouring islands of Hoëdic. But it's their island isolation, combined with the rugged beauty of Houat, that gives them a unique poetic and archaeological dimension.
Architecture
The two menhirs on Houat belong to the Armorican megalithic tradition of the Middle and Recent Neolithic. Carved from local granite - the island's predominant rock, with its pinkish-grey hues characteristic of the Morbihan granite massif - these monoliths have the typical features of Breton menhirs: an oblong morphology, roughly shaped by staking and abrading to reveal the rough texture of the granite, and modest dimensions compared with the giants of Locmariaquer, but sufficient to assert a strong symbolic presence in the moorland landscape. Lying on the ground, their exact dimensions are difficult to assess without a recent published survey, but menhirs of this type on the Morbihan islands are generally between two and four metres long and between sixty centimetres and one metre wide. One of the two menhirs probably has a more massive base, suggesting that it was intended to be driven deeper into the earth to ensure its stability against the prevailing westerly winds that sweep across the island. Their position in the island's topography was probably intended to ensure visibility from the sea or to mark out routes within the island, in line with the practices observed at other Breton coastal megalithic sites. The orientation of the blocks, even when lying on their sides, may still provide clues to their original axis of erection and, potentially, to astronomical alignments linked to the solstices or equinoxes, a common practice in the megalithic culture of the Atlantic seaboard.
Related Figures
Communautés néolithiques armoricaines (4500-2500 av. J.-C.) — bâtisseurs originels des menhirsZacharie Le Rouzic (1864-1939) — archéologue et conservateur du musée de Préhistoire de Carnac, pionnier du recensement des mégalithes morbihannaisJames Miln (1819-1881) — archéologue écossais dont les fouilles à Carnac ont ouvert la voie à l'étude systématique du mégalithisme bretonProsper Mérimée (1803-1870) — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, initiateur de la protection légale des mégalithes bretons en France
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Deux menhirs couchés located?
Deux menhirs couchés is located in Île-d'Houat, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Deux menhirs couchés open to visitors?
Deux menhirs couchés is currently closed to visitors.