Allée couverte et alignement de menhirs indicateurs de Saint-André
DatedEst. 3300–2500 BCE
Photo Dolly11 · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The allée couverte and alignment of Saint-André, also called the allée couverte des Kervès and the alignement de la Forêt Saint-Aubin, is a group of megalithic monuments at Plédéliac, in the department of Côtes-d'Armor, France. It comprises a gallery grave (allée couverte) and a stone alignment, and has been a protected historical monument since 26 August 1970.
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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 et alignement de menhirs indicateurs de Saint-André
It measures 23 m in length by 2,10 m in width and consists of forty slabs of Trégomar gabbro.
DescriptionSources for this section
Sources for this section
The gallery grave is ruined. It measures 23 m in length by 2,10 m in width and consists of forty slabs of Trégomar gabbro. Remains of the cairn were identified on the west side; elsewhere it has disappeared completely. The orthostats evidently collapsed where they stood. At the north-east there is a terminal cella backed against the end slab of the chamber, with a paved floor. The three orthostats on the west side of the cella are linked by a dry-stone wall. On the east side one slab has remained in place, and the setting pit of a second slab was recognised.
The alignment consists of about ten blocks of Trégomar gabbro, now all fallen. The stones are very irregular in shape and sometimes quite large: one triangular block measures 1,60 m in height by 2,80 m in width and 0,50 m in thickness, and one slab measures 2,80 m in length by 2 m in width.
ExcavationsSources for this section
Sources for this section
The gallery grave was the subject of a rescue excavation from 1984 to 1986, directed by O. Kayser.
ContextSources for this section
Sources for this section
The best-known stone rows in Brittany are those of Carnac, where more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were erected at some stage in the Neolithic. The catalogue gives a typological dating estimate of 3300 to 2500 BCE for the monument at Saint-André.
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
- 1970
L'ensemble fait l’objet d’un classement au titre des monuments historiques depuis le 26 août 1970.
Source - 1984
Elle a fait l'objet d'une fouille de sauvetage de 1984 à 1986 dirigée par O.
Source - 2004
Loïc Langouët, Les mégalithes de l'arrondissement de Dinan, Institut Culturel de Bretagne, 2004, 62 p.
Source
Photographs
3 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°28′55″ N, 2°24′34″ WFor a GPS or map app: 48.48204, -2.40936
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.
Menhir de Guihallon2800–1800 BCE
Allée couverte du Chêne-Hut4500–3300 BCE- DolmenAllée couverte de La Roche Couverte4000–3000 BCE
Allée couverte von Ville Bellanger4000–3000 BCE
Site mégalithique de la Lande du Gras4500–3300 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)menhir de la Pierre Longue2800–1800 BCE
Menhirs de Saint-Mirel2800–1800 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Ville-Pichard cairn5000–3000 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q2838895wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Menhir de Guihallon1.3 km SW
- Allée couverte du Chêne-Hut4.0 km W
- Allée couverte de La Roche Couverte8.4 km N
- Allée couverte von Ville Bellanger8.5 km N
- Site mégalithique de la Lande du Gras14 km W
- Menhirs de Saint-Mirel15 km S
- menhir de la Pierre Longue15 km S
- Ville-Pichard cairn16 km NW
- menhir de Carquitté17 km W
- Dolmen de la Ville Hamon17 km N
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Allée couverte et alignement de Saint-André" (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