Menhir von Camblot
DatedEst. 2800–1800 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Menhir von Camblot (also called the Menhir de Gargantua) is a standing stone west of Ménéac, near Ploërmel, in the département of Morbihan, Brittany, France. The catalogue dates it, by typological estimate, to between 2800 and 1800 BCE.
The stone is about 4.5 m high. It was originally accompanied by a second menhir.
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
Menhir von Camblot
A second stone once stood beside it, but this was used in the 19th century in the construction of the church of Ménéac.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Menhir von CamblotCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Menhir von CamblotCC BY-SA 4.0
The menhir stands about 4.5 m high. A second stone once stood beside it, but this was used in the 19th century in the construction of the church of Ménéac.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Menhir von CamblotCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Menhir von CamblotCC BY-SA 4.0
Several other menhirs lie in the vicinity. The Menhir de Bellouan (also known as the Gré de Gargantua) stands to the east, the Menhir de Bos Calers lies further to the west, and the Menhir du Chauchix, which is 1.8 m high, is also close by.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Menhir von CamblotCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Menhir von CamblotCC BY-SA 4.0
A menhir is a large upright stone placed by humans. The word comes from the Breton maen and hir, 'long stone'; in modern Breton the word for such a stone is peulvan. Menhirs are most numerous in Western Europe, with about 1,200 in north-western France alone, and Brittany stands out for both the density of its monuments and the variety of types.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Breton and French menhirs
A menhir is a large upright stone placed by humans. The word comes from the Breton maen and hir, "long stone", and entered archaeology through French antiquarians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; in modern Breton the word for such a stone is peulvan. Menhirs are most numerous in Western Europe, with about 1,200 in north-western France alone, and Brittany stands out for both the density of monuments and the variety of types.
The largest known menhir is the Grand Menhir Brisé at Locmariaquer. It once stood nearly 20.6 metres high, and now lies fractured in four pieces; whole, it would have weighed some 330 tonnes. Stones in the Carnac area were hewn from local granite by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany. At Carnac more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones form the largest such collection in the world, arranged in groups of alignments that stretch for four kilometres. The stones were erected at some point in the Neolithic, probably around 3300 BCE, with some perhaps as early as 4500 BCE. Elsewhere, the Cham des Bondons in the Cévennes is the second largest concentration in France, and a menhir 4.5 metres tall stands against Le Mans Cathedral, moved there in 1778 when its dolmen was destroyed.
Dating a menhir is difficult, because standing stones are usually hard to date and were put up in many different periods.
Folklore: a Christian legend held that the stones of Carnac were pagan soldiers who had pursued Pope Cornelius and were turned to stone by him. Modern beliefs link the stones with Roman and Christian occupation, even though they date from 4500 to 3300 BCE.
When visiting, look at how the stones taper towards the top and at how the alignments run across the slope.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Carnac stones, Wikipedia: Locmariaquer megaliths, Wikipedia: List of menhirs · 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.
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 2800–1800 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for menhirs in France; this site has not been dated itself. Standing stones are associated with the Beaker people of the European late Neolithic and early Bronze Age c. 2800-1800 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
France
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 48°08′37″ N, 2°28′49″ WFor a GPS or map app: 48.14361, -2.48028
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.
- Gallery grave (allée couverte)allée couverte de Ville-Menot4500–3300 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)Le Vau-Janot2800–1800 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)Menhirs du Perfaux2800–1800 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)menhir de la Coudre2800–1800 BCE
Dolmen des Pierres-Gouffier4000–3000 BCE
Jardin aux Moines5000–3000 BCE
allée couverte de La Roche aux Fées de la Brousse4500–3300 BCE
Allée couverte des Meurtiaux4000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q84738280wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- allée couverte de Ville-Menot2.4 km NW
- Le Vau-Janot3.0 km N
- Menhirs du Perfaux14 km N
- menhir de la Coudre16 km N
- Dolmen des Pierres-Gouffier20 km SE
- Jardin aux Moines20 km SE
- allée couverte de La Roche aux Fées de la Brousse21 km N
- Allée couverte des Meurtiaux21 km N
- dolmen du Carouge22 km N
- Hotié de Viviane22 km SE
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Menhir von Camblot" (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): Menhir von CamblotCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q84738280CC0