Sépultures circulaires sous tertre tumulaire
MonumentHidden Treasure
Sépultures circulaires sous tertre tumulaire, located in Bono (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Bono, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.6351, -2.9566
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091051
In the heart of Neolithic Morbihan, these circular burial mounds at Le Bono reveal five millennia of Breton funerary history, silent witnesses to a megalithic civilisation of astonishing sophistication.
History
In the gentle countryside of Le Bono, at the gateway to the Gulf of Morbihan, mounds of earth and stone have stood defiantly for over five thousand years. These circular burial mounds are among the most discreet and moving remnants of the Neolithic civilisation that shaped Brittany long before the arrival of the Celts. Far from the fame of Carnac, they offer an intimate and authentic encounter with the first builders of European humanity. What makes these structures unique is their circular burial layout - a less common form than covered walkways or corridor dolmens, and one that betrays a particular architectural and symbolic conception of the Neolithic funerary world. The circle, a figure of eternity and the solar cycle, clearly structures the space of the dead, revealing a cosmological thinking already developed by these peasant-builders of the 5th or 4th millennium BC. The natural setting reinforces the evocative power of the site. Le Bono, a commune nestling between the Loc'h estuary and the sparkling waters of the Gulf of Morbihan, offers an unspoilt environment, planted with oak trees and moorland, reminiscent of what the builders of these tombs must have known. A few steps are all it takes to leave the present behind and let your imagination wander towards the funerary rituals that archaeology is still trying to decipher. Listed as Historic Monuments since 1928, these burial mounds are protected to guarantee their integrity. Attentive visitors will notice the characteristic bulges in the mound, the slight central depression that is sometimes visible, and the circular arrangement of the facing stones that once encircled the structure. A visit in slow steps, with your eyes open, is the reward for a rare emotion, that of direct contact with one of the oldest human expressions of concern for the dead.
Architecture
These circular burial mounds have the characteristic morphology of Armorican Neolithic collective funerary monuments. Each structure consists of a circular or sub-circular mound of earth and gravel, whose diameter could vary between ten and twenty-five metres, depending on the social importance of the deceased. The original height of the mound, now partially levelled by erosion and agricultural use, was probably several metres, giving the structure a monumental silhouette that is visible in the landscape. The internal framework rests on a circular or polygonal burial chamber, built of local granite dry stone - a material abundant in Morbihan - and covered with large horizontal slabs forming a false corbelled vault or monolithic ceiling. This chamber was accessible from the outside via a corridor of varying length, allowing for successive burials. The perimeter of the mound was marked out by a facing of upright or flat-laid stones, forming a peripheral ring that emphasised the circular shape of the whole and clearly distinguished it from the surrounding terrain. The materials used were all local: Morbihan granite for the load-bearing structures, earth and clay for filling the mound, and stone chips for wedging. This economy of means, far from being technical poverty, testifies to a perfect mastery of local resources and a remarkable empirical knowledge of dry-stone construction techniques, certain principles of which would not be rediscovered in scholarly architecture until much later.
Related Figures
James Miln — archéologue écossais pionnier des fouilles mégalithiques en Morbihan (XIXe siècle)Zacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue breton, continuateur de Miln, inventeur et classificateur des monuments néolithiques du MorbihanJoseph Déchelette — préhistorien français, auteur du Manuel d'archéologie, dont les travaux ont contribué à la reconnaissance des tumulus armoricainsThéophile Malo Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne — érudit breton du XVIIIe siècle, l'un des premiers à s'intéresser aux antiquités celtiques et préhistoriques de la régionProsper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, dont l'action nationale a favorisé la prise de conscience patrimoniale des monuments mégalithiques bretons
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Sépultures circulaires sous tertre tumulaire located?
Sépultures circulaires sous tertre tumulaire is located in Bono, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Sépultures circulaires sous tertre tumulaire open to visitors?
Sépultures circulaires sous tertre tumulaire is currently closed to visitors.