Dolmen des Pierres-Plates
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmen des Pierres-Plates, 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
- 47.5568, -2.9507
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091385
Tucked away on the sacred Locmariaquer peninsula, the Pierres-Plates dolmen is one of the longest decorated megalithic corridors in Brittany, a veritable gallery of Neolithic art engraved over 5,000 years ago.
History
In the heart of the Locmariaquer peninsula, where the Gulf of Morbihan opens out onto the Atlantic, the Pierres-Plates dolmen is one of the most impressive and least-known megalithic monuments in Morbihan. Hidden beneath its original, partially eroded tumulus, this side-corridor tomb is astonishing for its exceptional length - almost 24 metres - and for the density of its rock engravings, which make it a veritable symbolic encyclopaedia of the Armorican Neolithic. What sets the Pierres-Plates apart from its illustrious neighbours - the Grand Menhir Brisé and the Table des Marchands - is the richness of its engraved orthostats. Dozens of panels feature crescents, polished axes, undulating snakes and schematic female figures interpreted as representations of the Great Neolithic Goddess. These motifs, executed with stone picks, bear witness to an elaborate symbolic thought process and a funerary art typical of farming communities in the 4th millennium BC. The visit takes place in two stages: first the approach from the outside, where the solid granite slabs emerge beneath the dense vegetation of the coastal promontory; then the discovery of the interior of the corridor, accessible by bending slightly, where the low-angled light reveals the engravings in all their complexity. The confined, silent atmosphere of the monument conveys a sense of contemplation that few archaeological sites can match. The natural setting amplifies the emotion: just a stone's throw away, the shimmering waters of the Gulf of Morbihan form a horizon dotted with islands, and it's easy to understand why these Neolithic populations chose this amphibious territory, at the convergence of land and water, as the site of their burial sanctuaries. The Pierres-Plates are part of an archaeological landscape of unparalleled density in Europe, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 as part of the Morbihan Megaliths.
Architecture
The Pierres-Plates dolmen belongs to the family of side-corridor tombs, a typically Armorican variant of the megalithic architecture of Atlantic Europe. The layout consists of a long access corridor - around 24 metres in total length - leading to a slightly enlarged final burial chamber. This elongated axis, delimited by local granite orthostats set vertically into the ground, is covered with horizontal cover slabs forming a flat slab ceiling - hence the popular name of the monument. The whole structure originally rested under a mound of earth and dry stone, of which significant traces remain around the perimeter. The most remarkable architectural feature is the sculpted decoration on numerous orthostats. More than twenty slabs bear intaglio carvings made with a pick: corniform crescents (interpreted as representations of horns or boats), axes with handles, serpentine shapes and idol-ecussons depicting a female anthropomorphic figure. These motifs, originally painted according to certain hypotheses, are part of the same iconographic vocabulary as those on the Table des Marchands or the Gavrinis cairn, a few kilometres further north. The materials used are exclusively coarse-grained granite from the Armorican massif, which is rot-proof and resistant to marine erosion. Some of the roof slabs, now partially collapsed or displaced, are 3 to 4 metres long and weigh between 5 and 10 tonnes. The technique used to build them, without the use of binders, is based on the static balance of the masses and reflects an empirical mastery of the principles of mechanics that Neolithic builders had developed over several generations.
Related Figures
Zacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue carnacois, pionnier de l'étude systématique des mégalithes morbihannais au tournant des XIXe et XXe sièclesJames Miln — archéologue écossais établi à Carnac, cofondateur du musée de Préhistoire, premier à documenter scientifiquement les monuments de la région (1870-1880)Prosper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, contribua à la prise de conscience nationale de la valeur des mégalithes bretons dès les années 1830-1840Anne-Thyde de Closmadeuc — propriétaire terrien du XIXe siècle dont les fouilles sur les sites locmariacains alimentèrent les premières collections archéologiques régionalesCharles-Tanguy Le Roux — préhistorien breton contemporain, auteur de travaux de référence sur l'iconographie mégalithique de Locmariaquer
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Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmen des Pierres-Plates located?
Dolmen des Pierres-Plates is located in Locmariaquer, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Dolmen des Pierres-Plates open to visitors?
Dolmen des Pierres-Plates is currently closed to visitors.
