Deux menhirs taillés, dits Babouin et Babouine
MonumentHidden Treasure
Deux menhirs taillés, dits Babouin et Babouine, located in Trédion (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Trédion, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.7818, -2.5789
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091758
Standing side by side since Neolithic times, the Babouin and the Babouine form a pair of carved menhirs with a rare personality, keeping watch over the granite in the heart of the Breton bocage of Trédion.
History
At the turn of a sunken lane in Morbihan, two stone silhouettes rise up in the Trédion countryside: the Babouin and the Babouine. These carved menhirs, whose popular nicknames evoke a facetious anthropomorphisation, belong to the long megalithic tradition that has made Armorica one of the world's cradles of Neolithic culture. Their combined presence - a so-called masculine menhir and a so-called feminine menhir - suggests a rare symbolic intentionality that sets them apart from the solitary monoliths more common in the region. What makes this pair of stones particularly fascinating is precisely their intentional size. Unlike many menhirs, whose shape owes everything to geological chance, the Babouin and the Babouine have been shaped by human hands: their edges and profile bear the marks of meticulous carving, testimony to the skill and determination to give these blocks of granite a meaningful shape. This makes them a key element in understanding the ritual practices of the Armorican Neolithic. A visit to these menhirs is a natural part of a walk through the Morbihan bocage, a landscape of hedges, oak trees and sunken lanes where time seems to stand still. The atmosphere is intimate, far from the crowds of the great megalithic sites of the Gulf of Morbihan. You approach these stones with a certain familiarity that their comical names encourage, before their mass and age impose a form of silent respect. The natural setting adds to the emotion of the encounter: the menhirs blend into their typically Breton vegetation, their sides covered in golden and grey lichens that bear witness to thousands of years of exposure to the elements. For lovers of prehistory, photography or simply the curious looking for a change of scenery off the beaten track, Le Babouin and La Babouine offer an authentic, unspoilt experience of Brittany's megalithic heritage.
Architecture
The Babouin and the Babouine are two menhirs carved from granite, a rock characteristic of the geological substratum of the Armorican Massif. Their different sizes - one taller and more slender, the other stockier - have led to them being popularly attributed to a pair, a convention that is widespread in the vernacular naming of Breton megaliths associated in pairs. The estimated heights are between 1.50 and 2.50 metres above ground level, modest dimensions but consistent with the category of carved menhirs of the inland Morbihan, distinct from the giants of the Vannes coast. The major technical feature of these two stones lies in the deliberate cutting of their surface: the faces are intentionally shaped to regularise their silhouette and accentuate certain evocative shapes. This human intervention on the raw material distinguishes the Babouin and the Babouine from menhirs simply erected without any prior transformation, and bears witness to the advanced lithic skills of Armorican Neolithic craftsmen who worked granite using percussors and hard stone abrasives. The two menhirs are planted close together, along an axis whose orientation could be related to astronomical or topographical landmarks, as is often the case for Breton megalithic monuments. Their surfaces are now covered with multi-coloured crustaceous lichens - grey, sulphur yellow, orange - which are both a marker of their age and a fragile element that needs to be monitored for their long-term conservation.
Related Figures
Prosper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments historiques, pionnier du recensement et de la protection des mégalithes en FranceZacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue et conservateur morbihannais, figura majeure de l'étude des mégalithes du Morbihan au début du XXe siècleJames Miln — archéologue écossais établi à Carnac, dont les fouilles et publications ont ouvert la voie à l'étude scientifique des monuments néolithiques armoricainsCommunautés néolithiques armoricaines — bâtisseurs anonymes responsables de l'érection des menhirs, vers 4000-2500 avant notre ère
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Deux menhirs taillés, dits Babouin et Babouine located?
Deux menhirs taillés, dits Babouin et Babouine is located in Trédion, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Deux menhirs taillés, dits Babouin et Babouine open to visitors?
Deux menhirs taillés, dits Babouin et Babouine is currently closed to visitors.