Bennefraye stone rows
Also known asBennefraie stone rows
DatedEst. 3300–2500 BCE
Photo Romain Bréget · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
L'alignement de Bennefraye (ou de Bennefraie) est un alignement mégalithique situé à Vallons-de-l'Erdre (commune déléguée de Freigné) dans le département de Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire, en France.
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
Bennefraye stone rows: the whole story
Summary in EnglishSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de BennefrayeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de BennefrayeCC BY-SA 4.0
Bennefraye stone rows is a stone row (alignment) in Freigné, France. Wikidata describes it as: stone rows in Freigné, France. A typological estimate: 3300 BCE to 2500 BCE. Material: quartz. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Alignement de Bennefraye", shown in the original language.
ProtectionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de BennefrayeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de BennefrayeCC BY-SA 4.0
Les menhirs sont classés au titre des monuments historiques le 8 mars 1978.
Le site comportait à l'origine plus de menhirs, mais plusieurs d'entre eux ont été réutilisés pour construire la base du calvaire du Pin.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de BennefrayeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de BennefrayeCC BY-SA 4.0
L'alignement est constitué de six menhirs de quartz blanc s'étendant sur environ 450 m de long et d'une pierre redressée, peut-être d'origine naturelle, l'alignement s'achevant au sommet d'une colline qui comporte un chaos naturel de blocs de même nature mais plus petits. Le site comportait à l'origine plus de menhirs, mais plusieurs d'entre eux ont été réutilisés pour construire la base du calvaire du Pin. Désormais, l'alignement se compose :
à l'extrémité sud-ouest, d'un groupe de quatre menhirs (dénommés A à D) alignés sur 9 m de distance ;
au centre, de deux menhirs (dénommés E et F), distants l'un de l'autre de 6 m ;
à l'extrémité nord-est, après un espace vide d'environ 230 m où s'élevaient les menhirs réutilisés, une pierre dressée potentiellement naturelle.
Selon la tradition locale, le plus gros des menhirs renfermerait une horloge qui sonne les douze coups de minuit et les pierres pousseraient comme des plantes.
AnnexesSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de BennefrayeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Alignement de BennefrayeCC BY-SA 4.0
Bibliographie
: document utilisé comme source pour la rédaction de cet article.
Michel Gruet, Mégalithes en Anjou, Le Coudray-Macouard, Cheminements, coll. « Bibliothèque du vieux logis », 2005 (1re éd. 1967, actualisation de Charles-Tanguy Le Roux), 417 p. (ISBN 2-84478-397-X, lire en ligne), p. 123–125
Articles connexes
Sites mégalithiques de la Loire-Atlantique
Liste des monuments historiques de la Loire-Atlantique
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
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
- 47°33′36″ N, 1°05′20″ WFor a GPS or map app: 47.56000, -1.08900
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.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q3054892wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Freigné - Alignement - Menhirs E et F.jpgRomain BrégetCC BY-SA 3.0
- Freigné - Alignement - Menhir E.jpgRomain BrégetCC BY-SA 3.0
- Freigné - Alignement - Menhir F.jpgRomain BrégetCC BY-SA 3.0
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Around this place
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Alignement de Bennefraye" (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