Menhir de Traon-Bihan
MonumentHidden Treasure
Menhir de Traon-Bihan, located in Plougasnou (Département 29), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Plougasnou, Département 29, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.6961, -3.8155
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090237
A stone sentinel since the Neolithic period in the Finistère region of Plougasnou, the Traon-Bihan menhir embodies five millennia of Breton history in a landscape of moorland and granite.
History
In the heart of North Finistère, in Plougasnou, a commune whose jagged coastline looks out over the Iroise Sea and the island of Batz, the Traon-Bihan menhir rises up like a raw and striking vestige of Neolithic mankind. Its Breton name - "Traon-Bihan", literally "the little valley" - evokes the discreet hollow in the ground where the ancient builders chose to anchor it, away from busy passages but visible enough to mark the land and the sky. The stone, carved from local granite in the grey and pinkish hues characteristic of the Léon region, has the slender, slightly squat shape common to Armorican menhirs: wide at the base, it tapers towards a summit that seems to want to talk to the clouds. Its surface, patinated by thousands of years of weathering in Brittany, is colonised by yellow and grey lichens that give it a surprising palette of colours depending on the time of day and the light. There are no carved ornaments to mar the austerity of its surface, a sobriety shared by most of the isolated menhirs in northern Finistère. A visit to the Traon-Bihan menhir is a rare opportunity to experience a prehistoric monument still in direct contact with its original environment. Far from the major tourist circuits of Carnac or Locmariaquer, it can be discovered in almost absolute peace and quiet, in the middle of hedged farmland dotted with embankments and sunken lanes. Here, there are no barriers or intrusive signs: the encounter with the stone is intimate and direct. The natural setting reinforces this impression of timelessness. The Atlantic winds, omnipresent on the Plougasnou peninsula, sweep across the tall grass around the monolith, reminding us that prehistoric Brittany was not so different from today. A few kilometres away, the customs path runs along the cliffs where the sea carves the granite with the same stubborn patience as the Neolithic builders sculpted their menhir.
Architecture
The Traon-Bihan menhir is a monolith made of granite, the dominant rock in the Leonard subsoil, whose bluish-grey colour with pinkish highlights is characteristic of the geological formations of northern Finistère. The stone was quarried in the rough, then roughly shaped by percussion - a technique known as "piquetage" - to produce an elongated profile that could be erected vertically in an anchoring pit dug in the ground. The base, which is more massive, ensures the stability of the whole; the upper part narrows slightly, giving the silhouette that discreet curve that distinguishes carefully worked menhirs from simple natural blocks. The height of the monolith, estimated at around 2 to 3 metres above ground and weighing between 3 and 6 tonnes, places it in the category of intermediate-sized menhirs, common in the Léon and Trégor regions. This human scale - the stone towers above man without crushing him - is typical of the isolated menhirs of this sub-region, which favoured an assertive verticality rather than the gigantism of the great Carnac compositions. No engravings or sculpted decorations have been recorded on its faces. The external surface, which has been exposed to Atlantic spray and rain for thousands of years, has a deep patina and a dense lichenic covering, a mixture of grey parmelite and yellow xanthoria, which in themselves are precious evidence of the monument's age and stability. The absence of any post-erection intervention - no carved Christian cross, no recent shard - confirms the monument's exceptional state of preservation.
Related Figures
Les communautés néolithiques du Léon (bâtisseurs anonymes, vers 3500-2500 av. J.-C.)Paul du Châtellier (archéologue finistérien du XIXe siècle, pionnier du recensement des mégalithes du Finistère)Zacharie Le Rouzic (archéologue breton, grand spécialiste des monuments mégalithiques armoricains au XXe siècle)Les inspecteurs des Monuments historiques (ayant instruit le dossier d'inscription de 1956)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Menhir de Traon-Bihan located?
Menhir de Traon-Bihan is located in Plougasnou, Département 29 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Menhir de Traon-Bihan open to visitors?
Menhir de Traon-Bihan is currently closed to visitors.