Menhirs du Perfaux
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 menhirs du Perfaux are a group of three standing stones at Saint-Vran in the département of Côtes-d'Armor, France. They are dated by typological estimate to between 2800 and 1800 BCE.
The largest of the three is a granite stone 6.60 m high.
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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
Menhirs du Perfaux
It is of granite and was erected on a north-west slope near a high point overlooking the valley of a tributary of the Arguenon.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs du PerfauxCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs du PerfauxCC BY-SA 4.0
The largest menhir measures 6.60 m in height, 3.75 m in width and 2.55 m in thickness. It is of granite and was erected on a north-west slope near a high point overlooking the valley of a tributary of the Arguenon.
The second menhir, called la Grande-Perrière, lies about 500 m from the first. It measures 4.90 m in height, 2.10 m in width and 1.80 m in thickness.
A third stone, parallelepipedal in shape and measuring 3.80 m in height, 1 m in width and 1.20 m in thickness, lies on the ground near the other two. It may be a third menhir.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs du PerfauxCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Menhirs du PerfauxCC BY-SA 4.0
The word menhir 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
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 2004
Loïc Langouët, Les mégalithes de l'arrondissement de Dinan, Institut Culturel de Bretagne, 2004, 62 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.
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°16′13″ N, 2°27′40″ WFor a GPS or map app: 48.27017, -2.46120
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 Coudre2800–1800 BCE
allée couverte de La Roche aux Fées de la Brousse4500–3300 BCE
Allée couverte des Meurtiaux4000–3000 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)menhir de la Pierre Longue2800–1800 BCE
Menhirs de Saint-Mirel2800–1800 BCE
dolmen du Carouge4000–3000 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)Le Vau-Janot2800–1800 BCE
- Gallery grave (allée couverte)allée couverte de Ville-Menot4500–3300 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q30740593wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- menhir de la Coudre2.3 km NE
- allée couverte de La Roche aux Fées de la Brousse7.1 km NE
- Allée couverte des Meurtiaux7.5 km N
- menhir de la Pierre Longue8.8 km N
- Menhirs de Saint-Mirel8.8 km N
- dolmen du Carouge10 km NW
- Le Vau-Janot11 km S
- allée couverte de Ville-Menot12 km S
- Menhir von Camblot14 km S
- Site mégalithique de la Lande du Gras21 km NW
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Menhirs du Perfaux" (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 du PerfauxCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q30740593CC0