Gallery grave (allée couverte)
Allée couverte de Kerbalannec
DatedEst. 4500–3300 BCE
Photo Dominique Felga · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
L'allée couverte de Kerbalannec, également appelée allée couverte de Ty-ar-c'horriket (maison des Korrigans), est située au lieu-dit Kerbalannec Vraz sur la commune de Beuzec-Cap-Sizun dans le Finistère, en France.
Article in FrenchRead on Wikipedia4 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
Allée couverte de Kerbalannec: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
Sources for this section
The Allée couverte de Kerbalannec, also called the allée couverte de Ty-ar-c'horriket (maison des Korrigans), stands at the Kerbalannec Vraz locality in Beuzec-Cap-Sizun, Finistère, France. It is a gallery grave, a Neolithic type of megalithic tomb with a main gallery entered directly rather than through an antechamber or passage.
The monument is oriented south-southeast to north-northwest and measures about 11 m long. Its width changes from 1,90 m at the entrance to 2,20 m in the middle and 1,50 m at the far end. Eight orthostates line each side, with one at each end, supporting five covering slabs. The largest slab measures 2,75 m by 2,80 m and has an average thickness of 0,60 m, while the average height beneath the slabs is 1,90 m.
A transverse slab blocks the entrance, leaving a passage of barely 0,50 m, and a short vestibule stands in front. A parallel line of twelve projecting blocks lies 1,30 m from the western wall and stands 0,40 m above the floor; it was probably intended to support the mound. The chamber contained fill made of clay, ash and many wood charcoal, together with ceramics, stone tools, a spindle whorl and three perforated stone pendants.
Paul du Châtellier excavated the structure in 1879, and it was classified as a historic monument by order of 10 January 1924. The finds include three round-based vessels, one flat-based bowl, two flowerpot-type vessels attributed to the Culture Seine-Oise-Marne, and sherds from at least three vessels attributed to the Campaniforme. Its estimated date is 4500 BCE to 3300 BCE. More generally, gallery graves are known from the Loire valley, south-west Great Britain and Ireland.
No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Allée couverte de Kerbalannec", shown in the original language.
Summary in EnglishSources for this section
Sources for this section
Allée couverte de Kerbalannec is a gallery grave (allée couverte) in Beuzec-Cap-Sizun, France. Wikidata describes it as: gallery grave in Beuzec-Cap-Sizun, France. A typological estimate: 4500 BCE to 3300 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Allée couverte de Kerbalannec", shown in the original language.
HistoriqueSources for this section
Sources for this section
L'édifice est fouillé en 1879 par Paul du Châtellier. Il fait l'objet d'un classement au titre des monuments historiques par arrêté du 10 janvier 1924.
DescriptionSources for this section
Sources for this section
L'allée couverte est orientée sud-sud-est/nord-nord-ouest. Elle mesure environ 11 m de longueur. Sa largeur varie de 1,90 m à l'entrée, 2,20 m au milieu et 1,50 m au fond. Elle est délimitée par huit orthostates de chaque côté et un à chaque extrémité supportant cinq tables de couverture (la plus monumentale mesure 2,75 m sur 2,80 m pour une épaisseur moyenne de 0,60 m). La hauteur sous dalle atteint en moyenne 1,90 m. L'entrée est barrée par une dalle transversale laissant un passage d'à peine 0,50 m, elle est précédée d'un court vestibule.
A 1,30 m des montants de la paroi occidentale, il existe une ligne parallèle constituée de douze blocs de pierre dépassant du sol de 0,40 m correspondant probablement à un péristalithe destiné à l'origine à contenir le tertre.
Matériel archéologiqueSources for this section
Sources for this section
Selon Paul du Châtellier, le niveau de remplissage de la chambre s'élevait jusqu'à 0,40 m en dessous des tables, composé d'argile, de cendres et de nombreux charbons de bois. Le matériel céramique découvert comprend trois vases à fond rond, une jatte à fond plat, deux vases type « pot-de-fleur » attribués à la Culture Seine-Oise-Marne, et des tessons correspondant à au moins trois vases attribués au Campaniforme. Le reste du mobilier découvert comprend un petit matériel lithique (une hache polie en dolérite de type A, un fragment d'herminette en fibrolithe divers outils en silex lames, éclats, grattoirs), une fusaïole et trois pendeloques en pierre perforées.
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 (2026-11-07) from the cited Wikipedia article “Allée couverte de Kerbalannec”, 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
Gallery graves (allées couvertes)
A gallery grave is a megalithic tomb built mainly in the Neolithic in which the main gallery is entered directly, with no antechamber or passage in front. The French term is allée couverte, "covered alley". There are at least four major types: complex, transepted, segmented and wedge-shaped, and they may be covered with an earthen mound or a cairn.
According to the archaeologist T. Douglas Price, the gallery grave was a form of community burial site. Those placed in it were most likely members of the same family or hamlet, and the burial probably served to reinforce community. Gallery graves are found at sites in the Loire valley of France, in south-west Great Britain and in Ireland, and it is thought that the builders had cultural links with one another.
In Germany the Wartberg culture of northern Hesse, southern Lower Saxony and western Thuringia, which lasted from about 3600 to 2800 BCE, built stone gallery graves. In Britain and Ireland the same idea appears in the Irish wedge tombs and the Severn-Cotswold tombs of Wales and south-west England.
Along with the dolmen and passage grave, the gallery grave is the most common megalithic tomb in western Europe. Most were built in the Neolithic, but some date to the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Dating is difficult, since a tomb built in the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age may have been reopened and used for burials until the Late Bronze Age.
When visiting, look for the long rectangular chamber and its capstones.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Gallery grave, Wikipedia: Allée couverte, Wikipedia: Wartberg culture · CC BY-SA 4.0
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. 4500–3300 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for gallery graves in France; this site has not been dated itself. The gallery graves (allees couvertes) of north-west France belong to the tradition of the Carnac stones which date from 4500-3300 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
France
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 48°05′00″ N, 4°27′17″ WFor a GPS or map app: 48.08323, -4.45467
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.
_Lannourec_13.JPG){kind=link}
_St%C3%A8les_de_Kerdalaun_01.JPG){kind=link}
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q2838863wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- DR-DomFelga-012.jpgDominique FelgaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Allée couverte de Kerbannalec - vue depuis le nord-est.jpgPiero~commonswikiCC0
- Kerbalanec.jpgRaphodonCC BY-SA 3.0
- Allée couverte de Kerbannalec - cella.jpgPiero~commonswikiCC0
- Allée couverte de Kerbannalec - vue depuis le nord-ouest.jpgPiero~commonswikiCC0
- Allée couverte de Kerbannalec - vue interieur nord.jpgPiero~commonswikiCC0
- DR-DomFelga-013.jpgDominique FelgaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Le domen de Kerballanec en Poullan vers 1900.jpgAugustin De CrozePublic domain
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Bateau de pierre von Saint Conogan1.3 km NW
- menhir de Tréota5.4 km E
- Lesconil gallery grave5.7 km E
- Menhir de Luguenez5.8 km W
- Stèle de l’âge du fer de Lannourec8.9 km W
- Stèles protohistoriques de Kerdalaun11 km W
- menez Korriged11 km S
- dolmen de Rostudel13 km NW
- Rostudel dolmen13 km NW
- Menhir des Droits de l'Homme14 km S
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Allée couverte de Kerbalannec" (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