Gallery grave (allée couverte)
Allée couverte de Kerrohet
DatedEst. 4500–3300 BCE
Photo Lyokoï88 · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Allée couverte de Kerrohet is a megalithic gallery grave about 300 m from the hamlet of Kerrohet on the Île de Groix, in the département of Morbihan, Brittany, France. The catalogue gives a typological estimate of 4500 to 3300 BCE.
The monument is still recognisably about 12.0 m long and about 1.0 m wide.
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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
Allée couverte de Kerrohet
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Allée couverte von KerrohetCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Allée couverte von KerrohetCC BY-SA 4.0
Two cover slabs survive, and the cairn is still reasonably intact. A further slab lies a short distance to the east and bears a number of cup marks (cupules). A deep hole in one slab was made only during the Second World War.
Of the 21 megalithic monuments originally on the island, seven are still reasonably well preserved.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Allée couverte von KerrohetCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Allée couverte von KerrohetCC BY-SA 4.0
Of the 21 megalithic monuments originally on the island, seven are still reasonably well preserved. The dolmen of Port-Mélite lies about 250 m from the gallery grave. Others on the island are Butten er Hac'h, the Dolmen de Magouer Huen and the dolmen of Kerlard.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Allée couverte von KerrohetCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Allée couverte von KerrohetCC BY-SA 4.0
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'). Such tombs may be covered with an earthen mound or a cairn. Gallery graves are found in the Loire valley of France, in south-west Great Britain and in Ireland.
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
4 photographs, each with its author and licence
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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
- 47°38′15″ N, 3°25′36″ WFor a GPS or map app: 47.63753, -3.42678
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.
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q27568044wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Allée couverte von Kerrohet" (German), 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