Alignement des Sept Grés
DatedEst. 3300–2500 BCE
Photo Grefeuille · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
Les pseudos-menhirs du Bas des Sept Grés sont situés à Montereau-Fault-Yonne, dans le département de Seine-et-Marne.
Article in FrenchRead on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
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.
The full article
Alignement des Sept Grés: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
Sources for this section
The Alignement des Sept Grés is a group of stone markers at Montereau-Fault-Yonne in Seine-et-Marne, France. Although it has sometimes been treated as a megalithic alignment, the group is also known as the Pseudo-menhirs du Bas des Sept Grés.
The surviving feature consists of four planted stones, each about 1 m high and 30 cm across. They lean at an angle and have square or nearly rectangular sections. Their squared faces have led researchers to identify them as former boundary markers rather than prehistoric megaliths.
The group has been listed as a historic monument since 1889. Its catalogue date is 3300 BCE to 2500 BCE, based on a typological estimate, but this dating belongs to the classification of the site as a stone row and does not establish the age of the stones themselves.
In France, rows of standing stones are often associated with prehistoric megalithic sites, including the exceptional concentrations around Carnac in Brittany. Here, however, the form, dimensions and worked faces of the four stones support the interpretation of old boundary markers rather than a prehistoric alignment.
No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Pseudo-menhirs du Bas des Sept Grés", shown in the original language.
Summary in EnglishSources for this section
Sources for this section
Alignement des Sept Grés is a stone row (alignment) in Montereau-Fault-Yonne, France. Wikidata describes it as: stone row in Montereau-Fault-Yonne, France. A typological estimate: 3300 BCE to 2500 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Pseudo-menhirs du Bas des Sept Grés", shown in the original language.
HistoriqueSources for this section
Sources for this section
L'ensemble est classé comme monument historique depuis 1889.
CaractéristiquesSources for this section
Sources for this section
Ce groupe de pierres plantées, dans lequel d'aucuns ont cru reconnaître un alignement mégalithique, est constitué de quatre pierres plantées de manière inclinée, mesurant environ 1 m de hauteur pour 30 cm de côté. De par leurs sections carrées ou sub-rectangulaires et leurs faces équarries, il semble qu'il s'agisse d'anciennes bornes. « À l'évidence, nous n'avons pas affaire à des mégalithes préhistoriques ».
AnnexesSources for this section
Sources for this section
Bibliographie
Alain Bénard, Les mégalithes de Seine-et-Marne, Conseil général de Seine-et-Marne, coll. « Mémoires archéologiques de Seine-et-Marne » (no 2-2008), 2009, 146 p. (ISBN 978-2-913853-09-6), p. 62-63.
Articles connexes
Liste des monuments historiques de Seine-et-Marne
How this page was madeSources for this section
Sources for this section
The summary at the top of this page was written by MiniMax-M3 (2026-11-08) from the cited Wikipedia article “Pseudo-menhirs du Bas des Sept Grés”, translated from French. The numbers in it were checked automatically against the source text. The rest of the page is the article itself, the structured records and computed distances.
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
- 1889
L'ensemble est classé comme monument historique depuis 1889.
Source
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
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°23′34″ N, 2°56′01″ EFor a GPS or map app: 48.39290, 2.93360
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.
Pierre Droite d'Écuelles2800–1800 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)Pierre Plantée de Dormelles2800–1800 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)Pierre Cornoise (Thoury-Férottes)2800–1800 BCE
Pierre aux Couteaux2800–1800 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)Pierre à la Croix2800–1800 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)menhir de la Roche à Blin2800–1800 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)menhir de la Roche aux Cailles2800–1800 BCE
Pierre Clouée2800–1800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q2836887wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Montereau7gres4.JPGGrefeuilleCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Pierre Droite d'Écuelles9.1 km SW
- Pierre Plantée de Dormelles10 km SW
- Pierre Cornoise (Thoury-Férottes)10 km S
- Pierre aux Couteaux13 km SE
- Pierre à la Croix15 km S
- menhir de la Roche à Blin15 km SW
- menhir de la Roche aux Cailles15 km SW
- Pierre Clouée16 km SW
- Pierre Levée de Moquebaril17 km SW
- pierre aux Aiguilles18 km SW
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Pseudo-menhirs du Bas des Sept Grés" (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