Allée couverte von Ville Bellanger
DatedEst. 4000–3000 BCE
Photo Milca56 · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Allée couverte de Ville Bellanger is a gallery grave at Hénansal in the département of Côtes-d'Armor, France. A typological estimate places it between 4000 and 3000 BCE. It is 13 m long, and part of its stonework was removed in the twentieth century to build a memorial in Belgium.
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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 von Ville Bellanger
Of the seven original capstones, two remain in place, averaging 3 m in length and 2 m in width; one of them is broken in two.
DescriptionSources for this section
Sources for this section
The gallery is aligned west-south-west/east-north-east. It is bounded by eight orthostates on the north side and six on the south side. Of the seven original capstones, two remain in place, averaging 3 m in length and 2 m in width; one of them is broken in two. The headroom beneath the slabs was about 0.90 m, for a width of 1.30 m.
Later historySources for this section
Sources for this section
Four blocks, including one capstone, were taken from the monument and transported to a site near Ypres, where they were used to build the dolmen of Boesinghe, in memory of the Bretons who died alongside the Belgian army during the First World War.
ContextSources for this section
Sources for this section
In France, dolmens are single-chamber megalithic tombs in which two or more upright stones carry a great capstone. Most of them date to the Late Neolithic, about 4000 to 3000 BCE, and many were covered with earth or smaller stones to form a mound.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
French dolmens
France is the dolmen country of Europe: the Dolmen de Bagneux at Saumur is the largest of some 4,500 dolmens scattered across 60 French departments, and one of the largest in Europe. A dolmen is a single-chamber megalithic tomb with two or more upright stones carrying a great capstone. Most date to the Late Neolithic, about 4000 to 3000 BCE, and many were covered with earth or smaller stones to form a mound.
Some of the oldest megalithic monuments in Europe are in western France. The Cairn of Barnenez in Finistère dates to the early Neolithic, around 4000 BCE, and with the Tumulus of Bougon and the Locmariaquer megaliths it is among the earliest megalithic monuments in Europe; it also has megalithic art. La Roche-aux-Fées near Essé in Ille-et-Vilaine is a covered corridor about 20 metres long, built of some 48 blocks, the heaviest around 45 tonnes, and divided into two chambers. It is thought to date from 3000 to 2500 BCE, and its entrance is aligned on sunrise at the winter solstice.
Folklore: the name of La Roche-aux-Fées, "the fairies' rock", comes from a legend that fairies placed the stones. Such stories are traditions about the monuments, not evidence of how they were built.
Because the Atlas draws on national inventories, its French records include many small and ruined dolmens, often reduced to a capstone resting on a few supports. Dates rest on the typology of the monument and, where a dolmen has been excavated, on radiocarbon dating of material from the chamber.
When visiting, look for the capstone and its supports, for the low rise of the old mound around the stones, and for the direction in which the entrance faces.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Dolmen de Bagneux, Wikipedia: La Roche-aux-Fées, Wikipedia: Barnenez, Wikipedia: Carnac stones · CC BY-SA 4.0
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
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. 4000–3000 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for dolmens in France; this site has not been dated itself. Most dolmens date from the Late Neolithic period (4000-3000 BCE).Source for this date
Where it stands
France
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 48°33′30″ N, 2°24′36″ WFor a GPS or map app: 48.55820, -2.41010
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.
- DolmenAllée couverte de La Roche Couverte4000–3000 BCE
Allée couverte et alignement de menhirs indicateurs de Saint-André3300–2500 BCE
Dolmen de la Ville Hamon4000–3000 BCE
Allée couverte du Chêne-Hut4500–3300 BCE
Menhir de Guihallon2800–1800 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Ville-Pichard cairn5000–3000 BCE
allée couverte du Tertre de l'église4000–3000 BCE
Doigt de Gargantua2800–1800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q30740348wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Allée couverte de La Roche Couverte2.1 km E
- Allée couverte et alignement de menhirs indicateurs de Saint-André8.5 km S
- Dolmen de la Ville Hamon8.5 km N
- Allée couverte du Chêne-Hut8.6 km SW
- Menhir de Guihallon9.1 km S
- Ville-Pichard cairn11 km NW
- allée couverte du Tertre de l'église12 km NE
- Doigt de Gargantua15 km NE
- allée couverte de la Ville Génouhan15 km E
- Allée couverte de la Hautière16 km E
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Allée couverte de Ville Bellanger" (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