Deux menhirs
MonumentHidden Treasure
Deux menhirs, located in Plénée-Jugon (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Plénée-Jugon, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.3490, -2.4576
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089415
In the heart of the Costarmorican bocage countryside, two Neolithic menhirs standing in the Plénée-Jugon countryside have defied time for over 5,000 years, silent witnesses to a Breton megalithic civilisation of rare intensity.
History
In the lush green countryside of central Côtes-d'Armor, between hedgerows and sunken lanes, stand two menhirs that are among the most discreet but also the most bewitching remains of Breton prehistory. These blocks of granite, carved by hand by Neolithic man, stand out in the rural landscape of Plénée-Jugon with a presence that is both sober and striking, reminding us that long before the Christian era, this area was the scene of a highly complex spiritual and social life. What makes these two menhirs particularly remarkable is precisely their paired nature. In the Armorican megalithic tradition, the association of two standing stones is often interpreted as the materialisation of a founding duality - masculine and feminine, sun and moon, the world of the living and that of the ancestors. Their paired placement suggests a deliberate symbolic intention, typical of the cultic or astronomical uses that archaeologists attribute to the major phases of megalithic construction between 4500 and 2500 BC. Visiting these menhirs is an experience in itself. Away from the crowds and signposted tourist routes, they invite a form of intimate contemplation that only isolated prehistoric monuments can offer. To approach these standing stones, to lay your hand on their rough granite covered with ochre and grey lichens, is to physically experience the thickness of time - five millennia condensed into two silhouettes of rock that have seen Celts, Romans, monks and revolutionaries pass by without ever wavering. The natural setting amplifies the emotion. Integrated into the typical Penthièvre hedged farmland, between hedges of pollarded oak and damp meadows, these menhirs seem to emerge from the ground like geological evidence. In the early hours of the morning or late afternoon, when the low-angled light carves out their rough edges and casts long shadows on the grass, the scene achieves an almost painterly quality that will delight photographers and archaeology enthusiasts alike.
Architecture
The two menhirs at Plénée-Jugon are carved from Armorican granite, the crystalline rock that dominates the subsoil of the Côtes-d'Armor region, and whose exceptional hardness partly explains the remarkable preservation of these monuments over several thousand years. Their surface, initially squared by percussion using hard stone hammers, was gradually smoothed by wind and water erosion, giving it the matt, slightly grainy appearance characteristic of ancient Armorican menhirs. The lichens that colonise them - grey, orange and greenish crusts - bear witness to prolonged exposure to the elements and an absence of major disturbance. Like most Breton menhirs from this period, each block has a slightly trapezoidal profile, wider at the base to ensure stability, and tapering gradually towards the top. This shape is not the result of chance, but of mastered technical know-how, enabling the stone to withstand mechanical stress - wind, frost, ground pressure - over considerable periods of time. Their installation in pits wedged with small pebbles is typical of the Neolithic erection practices identified in Armorique. The association of two menhirs within the same ensemble is a well-documented feature in Brittany: these are known as paired or paired menhirs. Their mutual orientation and respective spacing may have been dictated by astronomical constraints - alignment with the summer or winter solstice, locating the moonrise - or symbolic, structuring a sacred space whose logic largely escapes us. The proximity of the two stones and their setting in the present-day hedged farmland of the Penthièvre region have preserved much of their original monumental legibility over the centuries.
Related Figures
Populations néolithiques du Penthièvre (bâtisseurs présumés, vers 3500-2500 av. J.-C.)Prosper Mérimée (inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, promoteur de la protection du patrimoine préhistorique en France, XIXe siècle)Paul du Châtellier (archéologue breton, grand inventorieur du mégalithisme armoricain, XIXe-XXe siècle)Zacharie Le Rouzic (archéologue, pionnier de l'étude et de la conservation des mégalithes bretons, 1864-1939)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Deux menhirs located?
Deux menhirs is located in Plénée-Jugon, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Deux menhirs open to visitors?
Deux menhirs is currently closed to visitors.