Dolmen et allée couverte de Kergünteil
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmen et allée couverte de Kergünteil, located in Trégastel (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Trégastel, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.8110, -3.5185
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089691
One of the major Neolithic relics on the Pink Granite Coast, the Kergünteil covered walkway, with its imposing pink granite orthostats, stands among the moors of Trégastel, a striking testimony to 5,000 years of human construction.
History
Nestling in the wild, mineral landscapes of Trégastel, on the famous Pink Granite Coast of the Côtes-d'Armor, the dolmen and covered walkway of Kergünteil are one of the most remarkable megalithic complexes on the Armorican peninsula. Built at a time when Brittany was the crossroads of a flourishing agricultural and funerary civilisation, these monuments are part of the galaxy of standing stones that make Armorica one of the densest megalithic areas in the world. What sets Kergünteil apart from the many other Breton megaliths is above all the quality and colour of its materials: the orthostats, the large upright slabs that form the walls of the burial chamber, are carved from the local pink granite, the same granite that has sculpted the fantastic rocky chaos of the Trégastel coastline over thousands of years. This coherence between the funerary architecture and the surrounding landscape gives the site a rare aesthetic and spiritual unity. The covered walkway, an architectural form characteristic of the Final Armorican Neolithic (around 3500-2500 BC), offers visitors an almost initiatory experience: to enter this narrow, low space formed of colossal slabs is to physically understand the vision of the world of these builders, for whom death and its stone dwellings merited titanic architectural labour. The presence of an associated dolmen adds an extra dimension to the site, suggesting funerary use spread over time or complex rites. The setting adds an invaluable contemplative dimension. Between moorland scented with heather and gorse, views of the Iroise Sea and the rugged rocks of the coast, Kergünteil is part of an environment that has changed little since the Stone Age. Lovers of photography, archaeological walks and silence will find this a timeless place, away from the mass tourist circuits.
Architecture
The Kergünteil complex combines two complementary megalithic structures: a dolmen and a covered walkway, making it a site with a dual architectural interpretation. The covered walkway, the most elaborate form, consists of a succession of vertical slabs - the orthostates - forming two parallel rows that delimit a funerary corridor, covered by colossal horizontal tables (the covering slabs or ceiling). This "stone box" architecture created a low, elongated interior space, generally oriented towards the east or along a precise astronomical axis, although current data cannot confirm the exact orientation of Kergünteil. The material used is exclusively Trégastel pink granite, a coarse-grained metamorphic rock characterised by its orange-pink hue due to the predominance of potassium feldspar. This granite is exceptionally hard and durable, which explains the remarkable state of preservation of the monument after five millennia of Atlantic weathering. The blocks, estimated to weigh several tonnes in the case of the largest ones, bear witness to the mastery of lifting and transport techniques typical of Armorican Neolithic societies. The associated dolmen represents a simpler type of funerary architecture: a chamber delimited by three or four orthostats supporting a single covering slab, forming the characteristic 'table' plan. The site as a whole is a perfect illustration of the architectural traditions of the northern Armorican Neolithic, comparable to similar monuments found in Finistère and Morbihan, but with the incomparable chromatic specificity of the pink granite of the Côte de Granit Rose.
Related Figures
Populations néolithiques du Trégor (bâtisseurs présumés, vers 3500-2500 av. J.-C.)Paul du Chatellier (archéologue finistérien du XIXe siècle, pionnier du recensement mégalithique breton)Zacharie Le Rouzic (archéologue et conservateur des mégalithes du Morbihan, dont les travaux influencèrent l'étude des allées couvertes armoricaines)Prosper Mérimée (inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, initiateur du recensement patrimonial des mégalithes français au XIXe siècle)
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmen et allée couverte de Kergünteil located?
Dolmen et allée couverte de Kergünteil is located in Trégastel, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Dolmen et allée couverte de Kergünteil open to visitors?
Dolmen et allée couverte de Kergünteil is currently closed to visitors.