Dolmen à galerie dit Er-Roh
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmen à galerie dit Er-Roh, located in Locmariaquer (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Locmariaquer, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.5898, -2.9781
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091380
On the outskirts of Locmariaquer, Er-Roh unveils its intact Neolithic covered gallery: a 5,000-year-old corridor of monumental flagstones facing the Breton estuary in eloquent silence.
History
Nestling on the Locmariaquer peninsula, a megalithic mecca in Morbihan, the Er-Roh gallery dolmen is one of the densest megalithic landscapes in Europe. Its Breton name, which evokes the rock or the cliff according to local translations, recalls the intimate relationship between these Neolithic builders and the raw material of Armorican granite. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1929, Er-Roh bears witness to an agricultural and sedentary civilisation that, between 4500 and 3000 BC, shaped this coastal territory with astounding architectural mastery. What sets Er-Roh apart from the constellation of Locmariacquois megaliths is the coherence of its covered gallery structure: an elongated corridor formed of orthostatic uprights, topped by roof slabs, some of which weigh several tonnes. This configuration, typical of Armorican collective burials, reveals a complex social organisation capable of mobilising significant human resources to honour its dead and structure its symbolic territory. The monument is part of a religious complex that includes, a few hundred metres away, the Table des Marchands, the Grande Brisée and the alignments of Carnac. Visiting Er-Roh is like diving into time. The approach to the monument, often along grassy paths skirting fields and coastal moors, prepares visitors for this encounter with raw mineral. The interior of the gallery, when you can brush up against the entrance, shows the extent of the construction feat: the side slabs, planted in the earth over several dozen centimetres, have held the whole thing together for thousands of years without mortar or cement. The surrounding setting reinforces the emotion of the heritage. The low-angled morning light, the sea spray carried by the wind from the Gulf, the sparse vegetation of the Morbihan moors - it all adds up to a visit that is both contemplative and intellectually stimulating. Er-Roh is an essential stop-off point for anyone wishing to understand the depths of Breton Neolithic civilisation, far removed from museographic reconstructions.
Architecture
Er-Roh belongs to the family of gallery dolmens, or covered walkways, which constitute one of the most sophisticated architectural expressions of the Armorican Neolithic. The structure consists of an elongated corridor - up to ten to fifteen metres long according to comparative regional surveys - delimited laterally by large orthostatic posts set vertically into the ground. These slabs, made of local granite or sandstone, are joined together or spaced slightly apart, creating a semi-enclosed burial chamber accessible from an entrance generally facing sunrise or sunset, in accordance with Neolithic ritual practices. The gallery is roofed by horizontal roofing slabs, corbelled or laid flat on the uprights, whose weight - sometimes in excess of five tonnes - guarantees the stability of the whole without any binding agent. The whole structure originally rested under a mound of earth and stones that protected the structure and marked out the monument in the landscape; this mound has partially disappeared over the centuries as a result of erosion and farming activities. Some elements of the facing or cairn are still visible around the monument. Er-Roh is unique in that it has been relatively well preserved over the millennia: several uprights remain in their original vertical position and at least one roof slab is still in place, allowing a clear reading of the overall layout. The absence of any apparent engraved decoration - unlike the nearby Merchant's Table with its famous crook and axe motifs - gives Er-Roh a mineral austerity that exacerbates the raw power of the megalithic architecture.
Related Figures
James Miln — archéologue écossais pionnier des fouilles mégalithiques à Carnac et Locmariaquer au XIXe siècleZacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue morbihannais qui systématisa l'inventaire et la protection des mégalithes locmariacquoisProsper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques qui contribua au recensement du patrimoine mégalithique bretonLouis Siret — préhistorien belge dont les travaux comparatifs éclairèrent les pratiques funéraires néolithiques atlantiquesAnne-Elisabeth Rouzaud — préhistorienne contemporaine spécialiste des galeries couvertes armoricaines
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmen à galerie dit Er-Roh located?
Dolmen à galerie dit Er-Roh is located in Locmariaquer, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Dolmen à galerie dit Er-Roh open to visitors?
Dolmen à galerie dit Er-Roh is currently closed to visitors.