dolmen du Carouge
DatedEst. 4000–3000 BCE
Photo Liberliger · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The dolmen du Carouge, also known as the dolmen de la Guignardaye, is a megalithic tomb at Trébry, in the département of Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany, France. It is estimated on typological grounds to date from 4000 to 3000 BCE.
Only two orthostates (upright stones) survive, carrying a single capstone.
Read on Wikipedia1 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.
Article
dolmen du Carouge
The monument now consists of two orthostates supporting one capstone, which stands at a height of about 2 m.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du CarougeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du CarougeCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument now consists of two orthostates supporting one capstone, which stands at a height of about 2 m. The dolmen was formerly surrounded by a peristalith, a ring of stones set around the monument.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du CarougeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du CarougeCC BY-SA 4.0
France has the densest concentration of dolmens in Europe, with some 4,500 recorded across 60 departments. A dolmen is a single-chamber megalithic tomb in which two or more upright stones carry a great capstone. Most are assigned to the Late Neolithic, about 4000 to 3000 BCE, and many were originally 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
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 2005
137 (lire en ligne) Loïc Langouët, Les mégalithes de l'arrondissement de Saint-Brieuc, Institut Culturel de Bretagne, 2005, 89 p.
Source
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
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. 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°20′14″ N, 2°33′33″ WFor a GPS or map app: 48.33722, -2.55917
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.
Allée couverte des Meurtiaux4000–3000 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)menhir de la Pierre Longue2800–1800 BCE
Menhirs de Saint-Mirel2800–1800 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)Menhirs du Perfaux2800–1800 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)menhir de la Coudre2800–1800 BCE
allée couverte de La Roche aux Fées de la Brousse4500–3300 BCE
Site mégalithique de la Lande du Gras4500–3300 BCE
Allée couverte du Champ-Grosset4000–3000 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q130558754wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Trebry dlm-carouge 03.jpgLiberligerCC BY-SA 4.0
- Trebry dlm-carouge 01.jpgLiberligerCC BY-SA 4.0
- Trebry dlm-carouge 02.jpgLiberligerCC BY-SA 4.0
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
- Allée couverte des Meurtiaux5.0 km E
- menhir de la Pierre Longue7.6 km E
- Menhirs de Saint-Mirel7.6 km E
- Menhirs du Perfaux10 km SE
- menhir de la Coudre11 km SE
- allée couverte de La Roche aux Fées de la Brousse11 km E
- Site mégalithique de la Lande du Gras11 km N
- Allée couverte du Champ-Grosset14 km NW
- Fuseau de Margot à Plédran17 km NW
- Allée couverte du Chêne-Hut18 km NE
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dolmen du Carouge" (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
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du CarougeCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q130558754CC0