Dolmen Mené Guioré
DatedEst. 4500–3300 BCE
Photo Lyokoï88 · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The dolmen of Port-Mélite, also called Mené Guioré, lies close to the beach east of the village, in the north of the Île de Groix in the department of Morbihan, in Brittany, France. It is a passage dolmen (French dolmen à couloir) oriented west to east and open to the east. The catalogue gives a typological estimate of 4500 to 3300 BCE.
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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
Dolmen Mené Guioré
Most of the orthostats and three capstones are still present, one of which lies at the entrance.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von Port-MéliteCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von Port-MéliteCC BY-SA 4.0
The dolmen has been disturbed by looting and has largely lost its outer structure. Most of the orthostats and three capstones are still present, one of which lies at the entrance. The trapezoidal chamber is 2.5 m long and 1.8 m wide. Some small cup marks are recognisable. No material survives from the cairn.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von Port-MéliteCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von Port-MéliteCC BY-SA 4.0
The allée couverte of Kerrohet lies nearby.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von Port-MéliteCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von Port-MéliteCC BY-SA 4.0
In France the word dolmen is used as a general term for megalithic structures of all kinds.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
French megaliths
The Atlas's general "megalith" records for France cover a range of monuments: dolmens and covered alleys (allées couvertes), menhirs, cromlechs, tumuli, groups of stones, and polissoirs. Some of the oldest monuments in Europe are in western France, and the Carnac stones in Brittany, with more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones, are the largest collection in the world.
A polissoir, "polisher", is a Neolithic stone tool used for polishing and sharpening stone objects, especially axes, adzes and chisels. They date to about 5,000 years ago. Polissoirs are typically large stones with smooth, concave surfaces or grooves, made of hard and abrasive rocks such as sandstone, granite or quartzite, and the surface often shows distinctive wear patterns from the back-and-forth motion used to refine the edges of tools. They come in two types: earthfast, large and immovable and found in their original position, and portable. A polissoir is not strictly a megalith, but it is recorded with them because it is a large stone of the same period.
In the Atlas a record with an unspecified type receives a broad Neolithic range, since it cannot be tied to a particular phase. Many small dolmens survive only as a few stones in a field and cannot be dated closely.
Folklore: La Roche-aux-Fées near Essé takes its name, "the fairies' rock", from a legend that fairies placed the stones.
When visiting, look for the polished grooves on boulders near dolmens, and for the way a capstone is propped.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Carnac stones, Wikipedia: Polissoir, Wikipedia: La Roche-aux-Fées · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs
6 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. 4500–3300 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megaliths in France; this site has not been dated itself. The megaliths of north-west France are among the oldest in Europe; the Carnac stones 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′24″ N, 3°25′37″ WFor a GPS or map app: 47.63989, -3.42703
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 Q51076292wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Dolmen Mené Guioré 02.JPGLyokoï88CC BY-SA 4.0
- Dolmen Mené Guioré 01.JPGLyokoï88CC BY-SA 4.0
- Île de Groix - mai 2016 - 46.jpgSymac / Sylvain MachefertCC BY-SA 4.0
- Île de Groix - mai 2016 - 47.jpgSymac / Sylvain MachefertCC BY-SA 4.0
- Groix dscn0562 (3908062536).jpgziluxCC BY-SA 2.0
- Groix dscn0559 (3907283129).jpgziluxCC BY-SA 2.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dolmen von Port-Mélite" (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
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von Port-MéliteCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q51076292CC0