Alignement de Crozon
DatedEst. 3300–2500 BCE
Photo Ofion serpiente · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Lostmarc'h alignment is a megalithic stone row in the commune of Crozon, in the département of Finistère, Brittany, France. A typological estimate places it between 3300 and 2500 BCE.
It now consists of about fifteen menhirs, six of them still standing, all of quartzite. The monument has been listed as a monument historique (inscrit) since 1980.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Alignement de Crozon
The point of Lostmarc'h is formed of Ordovician scales based on sulphide-rich ampelites, but the stones of the alignment are all of quartzite.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de Lostmarc'hCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de Lostmarc'hCC BY-SA 4.0
The alignment is made up of about fifteen menhirs, six of which are still upright. The tallest measures 2.90 m in height. The point of Lostmarc'h is formed of Ordovician scales based on sulphide-rich ampelites, but the stones of the alignment are all of quartzite. The blocks were taken a little further away, from the cliffs of the Longue Pointe.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de Lostmarc'hCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de Lostmarc'hCC BY-SA 4.0
In 1835 de Fréminville recorded two alignments, the larger with eleven stones. In 1876 René-François Le Men likewise described two parallel rows, one of eleven stones and one of three. A map by Paul du Châtellier in 1880 still showed eleven stones. In 1910 Commandant Alfred Devoir observed thirteen stones on two lines, five of them still standing. In 1929 B. Le Pontois reported the site to be in a “deplorable state”.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de Lostmarc'hCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de Lostmarc'hCC BY-SA 4.0
The site was inscribed among the historic monuments by order of 23 May 1980.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de Lostmarc'hCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de Lostmarc'hCC BY-SA 4.0
Alignments of this kind are best known in Brittany from the Carnac area, where more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were hewn from local granite and erected, probably around 3300 BCE, though some may be earlier. The Carnac rows are arranged in three major groups called Ménec, Kermario and Kerlescan.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Carnac and the Breton alignments
The Carnac stones, near the south coast of Brittany, are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites, with alignments, dolmens, tumuli and single menhirs. More than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were hewn from local granite and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany, and form the largest such collection in the world. The stones were erected at some stage in the Neolithic, probably around 3300 BCE, though some may date from as early as 4500 BCE. Most lie in the municipality of Carnac, with some to the east in La Trinité-sur-Mer, and others at Locmariaquer, Arzon and on islands in the Gulf of Morbihan.
There are three major groups of rows, called Ménec, Kermario and Kerlescan. They may once have formed a single group, split up as stones were taken for other purposes. Together they trace a contour line about 20 metres above sea level, and the stones are arranged in rows that stretch across four kilometres.
Three exceptionally large burial mounds of the mid-fifth millennium BCE, the "Carnacéen tumuli" of Saint-Michel, Tumiac and Mané-er-Hroëk, each hold a megalithic chamber with a single individual and numerous large polished stone axes. On the island of Gavrinis a passage tomb built around 4200 to 4000 BCE, one of the world's oldest surviving buildings, has stones covered in megalithic art.
Folklore: a Christian legend held that the stones were pagan soldiers pursuing Pope Cornelius, whom he turned to stone. Modern beliefs associate the rows with Roman and Christian occupation, although the stones date from 4500 to 3300 BCE.
Dating comes from radiocarbon dates on the tombs and from the stratigraphy at the foot of the stones.
When visiting, walk the alignments at Ménec and Kermario, and notice the stones growing taller towards one end.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Carnac stones, Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Locmariaquer megaliths, Wikipedia: Gavrinis · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1835
En 1835, de Fréminville mentionne deux alignements, le plus grand comportant onze pierres.
Source - 1876
En 1876, René-François Le Men mentionne lui-aussi « deux alignements parallèles formés l'un de onze pierres et l'autre de trois ».
Source - 1880
En 1880, selon les indications d'une carte de Paul du Châtellier le site comporte encore onze pierres.
Source - 1910
En 1910, selon les observations du commandant Alfred Devoir treize pierres sur deux lignes, dont cinq encore debout, sont visibles.
Source - 1929
94 (lire en ligne) Bénard Le Pontois, Le Finistère préhistorique, Paris, Édition Nourry, 1929, 337 p., p.
Source - 1980
Le site est inscrit au titre des monuments historiques par arrêté du 23 mai 1980.
Source - 1998
I, Etre Daou Vor, 1998, 272 p.
Source
Photographs
8 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 3300–2500 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for stone rows in France; this site has not been dated itself. The stone alignments of Brittany belong to the tradition of stone circles most of which were built between 3300 and 2500 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
France
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 48°12′46″ N, 4°33′25″ WFor a GPS or map app: 48.21285, -4.55689
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q22925753wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Menhir en Lostmarc'h, Crouzon, Bretaña.JPGOfion serpienteCC BY-SA 3.0
- Embrace Menhir de Lostmac´h ; Mégalith ; Hinkelstein (15351446187).jpgArmin S KowalskiCC BY-SA 2.0
- Menhirs de Lost Marc'h-CROZON.jpgLouboutinjCC BY-SA 3.0
- Steudad meurvein Lostmarc'h.jpgYann GwilhoùCC BY-SA 4.0
- 062 Crozon Les menhirs de Lostmarc'h.JPGMoreau.henriCC BY-SA 3.0
- 026 Menhirs de Lostmarc'h.jpgMoreau.henriCC BY-SA 4.0
- Peulvan Lostmarc'h.jpgYann GwilhoùCC BY-SA 4.0
- Alignement de Crozon.jpgArmatus1995CC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Alignement de Lostmarc'h" (French), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors