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Menhirs de Saint-Mirel
DatedEst. 2800–1800 BCE
Photo Thérèse Gaigé · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
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Overview
About this site
Overview
The menhirs of Saint-Mirel are a group of three standing stones near the hamlet of Saint-Mirel, in the commune of Plénée-Jugon, département of Côtes-d'Armor, France. They comprise a pair of two menhirs and a third stone known as the Pierre Longue, and the group has been classified as a historical monument by order of 11 December 1963.
The catalogue record gives a typological estimate for the monuments of 2800 to 1800 BCE.
Read 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.
Article
Menhirs de Saint-Mirel
The three menhirs were set up on the south-east slope of a high point, 135 m above sea level, in the valley of the Arguenon.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs de Saint-MirelCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs de Saint-MirelCC BY-SA 4.0
The three menhirs were set up on the south-east slope of a high point, 135 m above sea level, in the valley of the Arguenon. Menhir no. 1, the northernmost, is of granite and measures 3.85 m in height, 2.15 m in width and 1.75 m in thickness.
About 3.50 m to the south, menhir no. 2 lies overturned on the ground. It measures 2.50 m in length, 2.20 m in width and 0.80 m in thickness. Menhir no. 3, the Pierre Longue, lies south-east of the first two. It is 4.45 m high and between 2.30 m and 2.65 m wide, depending on the face.
Other blocks in the immediate vicinity were interpreted in the nineteenth century as the remains of a cromlech, but this interpretation no longer appears very evident.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs de Saint-MirelCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs de Saint-MirelCC BY-SA 4.0
Menhirs are large upright stones placed by humans. The word comes from the Breton maen and hir, 'long stone'. They are most numerous in Western Europe, with about 1,200 in north-western France alone.
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.
Photographs
7 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
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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°20′57″ N, 2°27′28″ WFor a GPS or map app: 48.34910, -2.45770
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.
- Menhir (standing stone)menhir de la Pierre Longue2800–1800 BCE
Allée couverte des Meurtiaux4000–3000 BCE
allée couverte de La Roche aux Fées de la Brousse4500–3300 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)menhir de la Coudre2800–1800 BCE
dolmen du Carouge4000–3000 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)Menhirs du Perfaux2800–1800 BCE
Site mégalithique de la Lande du Gras4500–3300 BCE
Menhir de Guihallon2800–1800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q3305951wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Menhir dit de La Pierre Longue (01).jpgThérèse GaigéCC BY-SA 4.0
- Menhir couché à Saint-Mirel.jpgThérèse GaigéCC BY-SA 4.0
- Menhir dit de La Pierre Longue (02).jpgThérèse GaigéCC BY-SA 4.0
- Plenee-Jugon st-mirel1 1.jpgLiberligerCC BY-SA 4.0
- Plenee-Jugon st-mirel1 2.jpgLiberligerCC BY-SA 4.0
- Menhir du Closset de la Mas (02).jpgThérèse GaigéCC BY-SA 4.0
- Menhir du Closset de la Mas 01.jpgThérèse GaigéCC 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
- menhir de la Pierre Longue<0.1 km N
- Allée couverte des Meurtiaux3.0 km SW
- allée couverte de La Roche aux Fées de la Brousse4.4 km SE
- menhir de la Coudre7.5 km S
- dolmen du Carouge7.6 km W
- Menhirs du Perfaux8.8 km S
- Site mégalithique de la Lande du Gras14 km NW
- Menhir de Guihallon14 km N
- Allée couverte et alignement de menhirs indicateurs de Saint-André15 km N
- Allée couverte du Chêne-Hut16 km N
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Menhirs de Saint-Mirel" (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): Menhirs de Saint-MirelCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q3305951CC0