menhirs du champ de la Pierre
DatedEst. 2800–1800 BCE
Photo Liberliger · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The menhirs de la Garnerie are a group of two menhirs at Avrillé in the department of Vendée, France. The group is catalogued as the menhirs du champ de la Pierre and is dated by typological estimate to the period 2800 to 1800 BCE.
Only the larger stone is still visible; it is 5.20 m high and has an estimated weight of 70 t.
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
menhirs du champ de la Pierre
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs de la GarnerieCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs de la GarnerieCC BY-SA 4.0
According to F. Baudry, the group consisted of two menhirs, one large and one smaller and half buried. Only the larger of the two is now visible. It measures 5.20 m in height, 2.80 m in width and 2.40 m in thickness, and its weight is estimated at 70 t.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs de la GarnerieCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs de la GarnerieCC BY-SA 4.0
The two menhirs have been classified as historical monuments since 1889.
Menhirs are most numerous in Western Europe, with about 1,200 in north-western France alone.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs de la GarnerieCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs de la GarnerieCC 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". Menhirs 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
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
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
- 46°28′48″ N, 1°29′29″ WFor a GPS or map app: 46.48010, -1.49140
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 du Bourg-Jardin2800–1800 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)pierre branlante d'Avrillé2800–1800 BCE
Alignements du Bois de Fourgon3300–2500 BCE
menhir de la Pièce-du-Rocher2800–1800 BCE
Menhir de la Boilière2800–1800 BCE
menhir de la Pièce-du-Devant2800–1800 BCE- alignement de la Petite Pierre3300–2500 BCE
Menhir de la Fontaine Saint-Gré2800–1800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q22962902wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Avrille garnerie 02.jpgLiberligerCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Menhir du Bourg-Jardin1.3 km S
- pierre branlante d'Avrillé1.3 km W
- Alignements du Bois de Fourgon1.4 km SW
- menhir de la Pièce-du-Rocher1.5 km W
- Menhir de la Boilière1.6 km SE
- menhir de la Pièce-du-Devant2.0 km SW
- alignement de la Petite Pierre2.0 km SW
- Menhir de la Fontaine Saint-Gré2.2 km S
- menhirs de la Rainière3.0 km W
- dolmen de la Sulette3.2 km SW
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Menhirs de la Garnerie" (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 la GarnerieCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q22962902CC0