Dolmen à galerie
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmen à galerie, located in Erdeven (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Erdeven, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091182
A silent witness to the Breton Neolithic, this gallery dolmen in Erdeven stands with its granite orthostats in a landscape of moorland and megaliths, just a stone's throw from the famous Carnac alignments.
History
In the commune of Erdeven, at the heart of the megalithic triangle formed by Carnac and Locmariaquer in Morbihan, stands a gallery dolmen whose discreet presence in the Atlantic moorland landscape is no match for the more famous monuments surrounding it. This type of funerary architecture is one of the most accomplished expressions of Neolithic construction genius, combining technical prowess and ritual intent in a sober, powerful monumentality. The gallery dolmen - also known as "covered alleyways" in French archaeological terminology - are distinguished from simple trilithic dolmens by the presence of an access corridor preceding the main burial chamber. This bipartite architecture, characteristic of the Armorican Late Neolithic (around 3500 to 2500 BC), bears witness to an elaborate conception of the sacred space, where the passage from the profane to the sacred is materialised in the stone itself. The local granite orthostats, some of which can exceed two metres in height, support massive covering tables weighing several tonnes. The experience of visiting this megalith is above all an intimate encounter with the depths of time. To approach the blocks worn down by five millennia of Atlantic weather, to lay your hand on the granite that anonymous builders erected long before the invention of writing, is to cross an invisible boundary between the present and a prehistory that is still palpable. The low-angled morning or evening light brings out the crevices in the rock and the signs of wear and tear, making the monument particularly photogenic. The natural setting reinforces the timeless atmosphere: the Morbihan moorland, with its golden gorse, ferns and the constant murmur of the wind from the nearby Atlantic, forms a green setting that isolates visitors from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Erdeven, a coastal commune in the Auray region, has several megaliths on its territory, including the famous Kerzerho alignments, ranked as one of the most important in Brittany after those at Carnac. This dolmen is part of a network of sites that make this part of Morbihan an exceptional repository of European prehistoric architecture.
Architecture
The gallery dolmen represents a typological evolution from the single-chamber dolmens: it consists of an elongated access corridor - the gallery - leading to a burial chamber with a sub-rectangular or slightly trapezoidal plan. The whole structure is made up of orthostats, i.e. large slabs of stone standing vertically, which form the side walls and are topped by horizontal covering slabs, sometimes called "ceilings" or "covering slabs". In Morbihan, the material of choice is local granite, a rock of exceptional hardness and durability, available in abundance in the region's rocky outcrops. The typical dimensions of a Morbihan gallery dolmen range from eight to twenty metres in total length for the internal structure, with the chamber generally measuring three to six metres long and two to three metres wide. The orthostats commonly reach a height of between one and a half and two and a half metres, while the covering slabs, some of which have disappeared over the centuries as a result of looting or erosion, can weigh several tonnes. The whole structure was originally covered by a mound of earth and dry stone, giving it a tumulus-like silhouette that could be seen from afar in the landscape. A notable architectural feature of Armorican covered walkways is the frequent presence of a chevet slab closing off the chamber at its distal end, as well as the occasional portular slab - a slab pierced by a circular hole - at the entrance to the gallery, the function of which, perhaps linked to the symbolic passage of souls, remains debated among specialists. The orientation of the main axis of the monument, often facing south-east or towards the rising sun at equinoxes, suggests an astronomical intention in the architectural design, placing these buildings at the crossroads of the funerary and the cosmological.
Related Figures
Prosper Mérimée — Inspecteur général des Monuments historiques au XIXe siècle, initia la protection réglementaire des mégalithes bretonsJames Miln — archéologue écossais du XIXe siècle, pionnier des fouilles mégalithiques dans la région de Carnac et ErdevenZacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue morbihannais (1864-1939), figura majeure de l'étude et de la conservation des mégalithes du pays carnacéenRené Galles — archéologue vannetais du XIXe siècle, conduisit plusieurs fouilles de dolmens dans le département du MorbihanCharles-Tanguy Le Roux — préhistorien contemporain, spécialiste reconnu de l'architecture mégalithique armoricaine et de ses décors gravés
Map
Coordinates not available for this monument.
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmen à galerie located?
Dolmen à galerie is located in Erdeven, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Dolmen à galerie open to visitors?
Dolmen à galerie is currently closed to visitors.