Tumulus-dolmen
MonumentHidden Treasure
Tumulus-dolmen, located in Larmor-Baden (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Larmor-Baden, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.5826, -2.8918
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091356
At the gateway to the Gulf of Morbihan, this Neolithic tumulus-dolmen contains a monumental burial chamber over 5,000 years old, a striking testimony to the megalith builders of Brittany.
History
In the immediate hinterland of Larmor-Baden, a village nestling on the Rhuys peninsula facing the Gulf of Morbihan, stands a tumulus-dolmen that is one of the most eloquent remains of Armorican prehistory. Emerging discreetly from a setting of vegetation, this mass of earth and piled stones hides at its heart a funerary architecture of astonishing precision, erected by Neolithic communities whose know-how still defies our modern understanding. What makes this monument unique is the rare combination of a covering monument - the tumulus itself, an artificial mound shaped to protect and mark the burial site - and an inner dolmenic chamber, made up of upright orthostats supporting one or more massive covering slabs. This "chamber and corridor" architecture is characteristic of the megalithic tradition of the Gulf of Morbihan, one of the densest concentrations of megaliths in Western Europe. Visiting the site makes a striking impression: to walk through the interior, even if only partially, is to enter a place shaped by people who made their living from fishing, livestock rearing and fledgling agriculture, yet who mobilised considerable collective energy to honour their dead. The slabs of local granite, quarried just a few kilometres away, weigh several tonnes each, and their construction required remarkable social and technical organisation. Larmor-Baden is a commune surrounded by the golden waters of the Gulf of Morbihan, a landscape of moorland, twisted oaks and rias whose basic features have hardly changed since the Neolithic period. A few kilometres away, the island of Gavrinis and its cairn with its entirely sculpted walls, or the Er Grah cairn in Locmariaquer, offer an exceptional archaeological context that invites you to take a real trip back in time.
Architecture
The monument belongs to the large family of dolmenic chamber burial mounds, an architectural type characteristic of the Atlantic Neolithic. The tumulus, or cairn depending on whether its cover is mainly earth or stone, forms a sub-circular or sub-trapezoidal artificial mound with a diameter of up to twenty metres and a preserved height of two to four metres. Its soft, rounded silhouette blends deceptively discreetly into the Breton bocage landscape. At the heart of this mass is the burial chamber itself, made up of orthostats - large slabs of local granite standing vertically - forming the walls of a rectangular or slightly trapezoidal space. One or more covering tables, known as ceiling slabs, rest directly on these uprights. The whole structure defines an interior space of a few square metres, accessible via a more or less long entrance corridor, generally facing east or south-east in accordance with a well-documented tradition in the region. The materials used come exclusively from the local geology: coarse-grained granite from coastal outcrops and islets in the Gulf, worked in its raw state without any elaborate cutting. The construction technique is based on the principle of partial corbelling and the intrinsic solidity of the megalithic structure. No binders are used; stability is ensured by the weight of the elements and the careful wedging of the blocks. This robustness has enabled the monument to be preserved over several millennia, even if the subsidence of the tumulus and the partial disappearance of the internal fillings have weakened some of the supports over time.
Related Figures
Communautés néolithiques armoricaines (4500-3000 av. J.-C.) — bâtisseurs anonymes du monumentProsper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, pionnier du recensement mégalithique breton au XIXe siècleJames Miln — archéologue écossais actif dans le Morbihan au XIXe siècle, contributeur à la connaissance des mégalithes bretonsZacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue carnacéen (1864-1939), grand spécialiste des monuments mégalithiques du golfe du MorbihanGabriel de Mortillet — préhistorien français dont les travaux ont posé les bases de la classification des monuments néolithiques bretons
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Tumulus-dolmen located?
Tumulus-dolmen is located in Larmor-Baden, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Tumulus-dolmen open to visitors?
Tumulus-dolmen is currently closed to visitors.