Dolmens de Kervilor-er Rohec
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmens de Kervilor-er Rohec, located in La Trinité-sur-Mer (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- La Trinité-sur-Mer, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.6017, -3.0287
- Mérimée Reference
- PA56000136
Just outside La Trinité-sur-Mer, the granite orthostats of the Kervilor-er Rohec dolmens have stood for over 5,000 years, silent witnesses to a Neolithic civilisation that shaped the Gulf of Morbihan before the pyramids.
History
On the golden Morbihan peninsula, just a stone's throw from the colourful sails of La Trinité-sur-Mer, lie the dolmens of Kervilor-er Rohec: a megalithic complex of striking simplicity, set in a landscape of open moorland and Atlantic bocage through which the sea wind blows in all seasons. These collective tombs, built in the Neolithic by sedentary farmer-breeders, are part of one of the densest concentrations of megalithic sites in Europe, the Gulf of Morbihan, which has been listed as a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage status. What sets Kervilor-er Rohec apart from the countless other dolmens in Brittany is first and foremost its exceptional geographical location: set between the megalithic massif of Carnac and the ria of Crac'h, the site is part of a network of funerary monuments that methodically criss-crossed this coastal territory over five millennia ago. The builders had an intimate knowledge of the terrain, choosing promontories or areas of transition between land and sea to erect their burial chambers, making each dolmen a symbolic as well as a ritual marker in the landscape. The visitor experience is that of an intimate face-to-face encounter with prehistory. With no grids or staging, the local granite stones stand with a quiet authority that five millennia have not diminished. The archaeology enthusiast will see in the arrangement of the orthostats and the logic of the cairn the traces of a structured society, capable of mobilising a considerable collective labour force. Simple walkers, on the other hand, will be struck by the raw power of these masses of stone laid right on the Armorican soil. The natural setting amplifies the emotion: near La Trinité-sur-Mer, the late afternoon light shaves the megaliths and reveals their rough textures, while the sea spray carried by the sea breeze reminds us that these builders also lived facing the ocean. Photographers and watercolourists regularly make it their favourite subject in the golden hours.
Architecture
The dolmens at Kervilor-er Rohec belong to the Armorican megalithic tradition, characterised by the use of local granite, a rock abundant in the Morbihan subsoil and exceptionally resistant to Atlantic weathering. These chamber burials typically consist of orthostats - large slabs of stone standing vertically - supporting one or more horizontal covering tables (the capier slabs), all covering a burial chamber accessible via a corridor of varying length. This configuration, known as a "corridor dolmen", is the dominant form in the Carnac-La Trinité-sur-Mer area. The granite used has a coarse grain size typical of local outcrops, with the grey and bluish hues characteristic of the Morbihan region. Some of the blocks show signs of intentional cutting, particularly at the junction between orthostats, testifying to meticulous craftsmanship. The dimensions of the burial chambers in this type of monument are generally between 3 and 8 metres long and 1.5 to 2 metres high under the slab, enough to accommodate collective bone deposits and offerings. The orientation of the access corridors, often turned towards the east or towards significant points on the horizon, betrays a mastery of astronomical cycles that still amazes contemporary researchers. Originally, the stone structures were only the visible part of a more complex system: they were generally encased in a mound of earth and small stones (cairn), which gave them the silhouette of an artificial hill in the landscape. Today, after thousands of years of erosion and human disturbance, these coverings have often disappeared, revealing the stone skeleton in all its architectural nakedness.
Related Figures
Les bâtisseurs néolithiques du Morbihan (4500-3000 av. J.-C.) — communautés paysannes anonymes à l'origine de l'ensemble mégalithiqueJames Miln (1819-1881) — archéologue écossais pionnier des fouilles mégalithiques dans la région de CarnacZacharie Le Rouzic (1864-1939) — archéologue breton, gardien du musée de Carnac, qui documenta et protégea de nombreux dolmens du MorbihanProsper Mérimée (1803-1870) — premier inspecteur des Monuments Historiques, qui attira l'attention nationale sur le patrimoine mégalithique breton lors de ses tournées d'inspectionJean L'Helgouach (1932-2006) — préhistorien rennais dont les travaux ont fondamentalement renouvelé la compréhension de l'architecture funéraire néolithique armoricaine
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmens de Kervilor-er Rohec located?
Dolmens de Kervilor-er Rohec is located in La Trinité-sur-Mer, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Dolmens de Kervilor-er Rohec open to visitors?
Dolmens de Kervilor-er Rohec is currently closed to visitors.