Tumulus de Kerlabour
MonumentHidden Treasure
Tumulus de Kerlabour, located in Sainte-Tréphine (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Sainte-Tréphine, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.2786, -3.1523
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089661
A stone sentinel in the heart of inland Brittany, the Kerlabour tumulus has stood guard over the moors of Sainte-Tréphine for over 3,500 years - a rare testimony to the funerary sacredness of the Armorican Bronze Age.
History
Lost in the silence of the hedged farmlands of central Brittany, the Kerlabour burial mound is one of those monuments that just beg you to stop, look and let time do its work. Built over three millennia ago by Bronze Age populations, this burial mound is part of a monumental tradition deeply rooted in the Armorican peninsula, where death and the memory of ancestors structured the landscape like geographical and spiritual beacons. What makes Kerlabour so special is first and foremost its location: slightly elevated in a landscape of moorland and open fields typical of the Roi Morvan region, the tumulus offers a discreet but undeniable presence. Unlike the Neolithic megaliths often associated with the great coastal plains, this mound is part of a later cultural phase, marked by the appearance of individual burial rites under burial mounds, a sign of the growing hierarchisation of prehistoric Breton societies. The visitor experience is above all sensory and meditative. No tickets to buy, no queues: visitors approach this monument as they would a well-kept secret, along paths lined with broom and ferns. The mass of earth and stone, now covered in low-lying vegetation that softens its contours, exudes an impression of serene, almost mineral permanence. The surrounding area amplifies this timeless atmosphere. Sainte-Tréphine, a small commune in the Côtes-d'Armor region, has retained its authentic rural character, far removed from the overcrowded tourist circuits. The Kerlabour burial mound is an ideal stop-off point for archaeology enthusiasts, hikers and anyone looking to reconnect with the deepest layers of human history in Brittany, on land that people have shaped and honoured since the dawn of time.
Architecture
The Kerlabour tumulus belongs to the category of Armorican Bronze Age burial mounds, monuments whose morphology is based on precise codes, even if their implementation varies from one site to another. In its most probable form, it takes the form of a circular or slightly oval mound of earth and stones, estimated to be between 15 and 30 metres in diameter, with a residual height of between one and four metres depending on its state of preservation - dimensions consistent with the intermediate-ranking burial mounds recorded in the Côtes-d'Armor region. The internal structure, typical of funerary practices at the time, generally consists of a core of local stones arranged in a protective shell around the burial chamber, covered by a mantle of compacted earth. The materials used were those provided by the immediate subsoil: granite and schist from the Armorican massif, abundant in the moors of central Brittany. This use of local stone gives Armorican burial mounds a remarkable robustness, explaining their survival over several millennia. The spontaneous vegetation - short grasses, gorse, moss - that now covers the surface of the mound acts as a natural conservatory, stabilising the soil and limiting erosion. It is this envelope of vegetation that gives the monument its appearance as a slight eminence in the landscape, concealing beneath an innocuous exterior a funerary architecture of remarkable precision and intentionality for societies without writing.
Related Figures
L'aristocrate ou chef de clan de l'Âge du bronze inhumé sous le tertre — figure anonyme mais de haut rang dont la sépulture monumentale atteste l'importance socialeLes artisans et terrassiers préhistoriques ayant élevé le monument, représentants d'une communauté organisée et hiérarchisée du IIe millénaire av. J.-C.Les érudits bretons du XIXe siècle (antiquaires et membres des sociétés savantes locales) qui documentèrent les premiers l'existence du tumulusLes agents du Ministère des Affaires Culturelles ayant instruit le dossier d'inscription aux Monuments Historiques, aboutissant à la protection de 1976
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Tumulus de Kerlabour located?
Tumulus de Kerlabour is located in Sainte-Tréphine, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Tumulus de Kerlabour open to visitors?
Tumulus de Kerlabour is currently closed to visitors.