Dolmen à couloir et chambre circulaire dit Dolmen de Nelhouët
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmen à couloir et chambre circulaire dit Dolmen de Nelhouët, located in Caudan (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Caudan, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.8134, -3.3788
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091147
A Neolithic vestige of rare formal elegance, the circular chamber of the Nelhouët dolmen in Caudan stands in the heart of Morbihan: one of the most remarkable funerary monuments with a corridor in the Lorient region.
History
The Nelhouët dolmen, located in the Caudan area on the outskirts of Lorient, is one of a constellation of megaliths that make southern Brittany one of the areas with the greatest prehistoric heritage in the world. Its layout - an access corridor opening onto a circular chamber - clearly distinguishes it from the most common megalithic tables, and bears witness to a particularly elaborate architectural mastery and ritual intent. This type of funerary monument with a corridor, which archaeologists associate with the passage tombs of the Middle and Late Neolithic (between around 4500 and 2500 BC), was both a collective burial site and a place for worshiping ancestors. The circular chamber is a rare form in the Breton megalithic inventory, making it an exception among the dozens of dolmens in the Morbihan department alone. This morphological feature suggests an influence from Atlantic architectural traditions, which can be seen in the great dolmens of Anjou and in certain Irish monuments. A visit to the Nelhouët dolmen is an intimate encounter with time. The orthostats - the large upright slabs that form the walls - bear the imprint of builders whose culture, beliefs and cosmology remain largely mysterious to us. To mentally enter the axis of the corridor, to look towards the inner chamber, is to physically grasp what a Neolithic community might have felt during its funerary rites. The natural setting adds to the solemnity of the place. Planted in a Morbihan bocage landscape, between moorland and woodland, the dolmen benefits from a relatively unspoilt environment that encourages contemplation and reinforces the symbolic significance of the site. The changing light of the Armorican sky, sometimes pearly, sometimes dramatic, gives the megaliths hues that vary from ochre to silvery grey depending on the time of day. Photography enthusiasts and archaeology buffs alike will find plenty of material for a visit as brief as it is memorable.
Architecture
The Nelhouët dolmen belongs to the category of dolmens with a corridor and circular chamber (sometimes called "tholos" by analogy with Mediterranean funerary architecture, although the construction techniques differ). This type of structure is characterised by an access corridor, generally facing south-east to catch the light of the solstices, leading to a roughly circular or slightly oval chamber defined by vertically upright granite orthostats. The roof was covered by large horizontal slabs - the dolmenic tables - at least some of which were still in place when the monument was first described in modern times. The materials used were those available in the subsoil of the Lorient region: mainly local granite, a hard, durable rock that is ideal for cutting and processing massive blocks. Some of the orthostats are over two metres high and between thirty and fifty centimetres thick, demonstrating the remarkable skill with which the stones were selected and handled. The circular chamber, with an internal diameter estimated at between three and five metres according to comparative regional surveys, provided ample space for successive burial deposits. The entire monument was probably originally covered by a mound of earth and gravel, now largely levelled by ploughing and erosion over the millennia, giving it the silhouette of an artificial mound perfectly integrated into the landscape. This protective mound also played a structural role by maintaining lateral pressure on the orthostats and ensuring the stability of the entire construction.
Related Figures
Bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes de la culture armoricaine (Ve-IIIe millénaire av. J.-C.)Membres de la Société polymathique du Morbihan (érudits locaux ayant documenté le site aux XIXe-XXe siècles)Prosper Mérimée (inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, initiateur de la protection du patrimoine mégalithique breton au XIXe siècle)Zacharie Le Rouzic (archéologue et conservateur du musée de Préhistoire de Carnac, référence pour l'étude des dolmens morbihannais)James Miln (archéologue écossais dont les fouilles à Carnac ont contribué à la connaissance du mégalithisme armoricain)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmen à couloir et chambre circulaire dit Dolmen de Nelhouët located?
Dolmen à couloir et chambre circulaire dit Dolmen de Nelhouët is located in Caudan, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Dolmen à couloir et chambre circulaire dit Dolmen de Nelhouët open to visitors?
Dolmen à couloir et chambre circulaire dit Dolmen de Nelhouët is currently closed to visitors.