pierre de Saillé
Also known asmenhir de Congor · pierre de Saille
DatedEst. 2800–1800 BCE
Photo Jibi44 · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The pierre de Saillé is a menhir at Guérande, in the département of Loire-Atlantique, France. It is dated 2800 to 1800 BCE on typological grounds and was entered on the supplementary list of historic monuments in 1984.
It is mentioned under the name Petra Congor in a charter of 859 in the Cartulaire de l'Abbaye de Redon.
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
pierre de Saillé
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pierre de SailléCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pierre de SailléCC BY-SA 4.0
The stone is almost rectangular, measuring about 1.60 m in height, 1.20 m in width and 0.35 m in thickness.
It is also called the menhir du Clos-Saint-Aubin, after the adjacent place of that name, and the menhir du Clos-de-la-Pierre.
NameSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pierre de SailléCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pierre de SailléCC BY-SA 4.0
The menhir is known by several names. Pierre de Saillé refers to the village of Saillé, some distance to the south. Pierre de Congor refers to the nearby place called Congor, to the west. It is also called the menhir du Clos-Saint-Aubin, after the adjacent place of that name, and the menhir du Clos-de-la-Pierre.
HistorySources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pierre de SailléCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pierre de SailléCC BY-SA 4.0
The charter of 859 in the Cartulaire de l'Abbaye de Redon names the stone Petra Congor. Around the beginning of the twentieth century the Nantes archaeologist Pitre de Lisle du Dreneuc described it as the remains of a dolmen. In 1911 the historian Henri Quilgars recorded that it lay in a ditch. A move of the stone to La Baule-Escoublac was at one time considered, but it was instead re-erected, and then entered on the supplementary list of historic monuments in 1984.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pierre de SailléCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pierre de SailléCC 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
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 859 CE
Le menhir est mentionné sous le nom de Petra Congor dans une charte de 859 du Cartulaire de l'Abbaye de Redon.
Source - 1911
En 1911, l'historien Henri Quilgars indique qu'elle est couchée dans le fossé.
Source - 1984
Bien qu'il fût un temps envisagé de déplacer le menhir à la Baule-Escoublac, il fut finalement redressé, puis inscrit au titre des monuments historiques en 1984.
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.
Photographs
3 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. 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
- 47°18′36″ N, 2°25′49″ WFor a GPS or map app: 47.30993, -2.43022
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 Pradel4500–3300 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)menhir de Kerignon2800–1800 BCE
- Megalithpierre à bassins de Careil4500–3300 BCE
- Dolmendolmen de Careil4000–3000 BCE
Bissin menhir2800–1800 BCE
Keroland menhir2800–1800 BCE- Dolmenpierre Beurrée4000–3000 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)tumulus de Penchâteau5000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q3387688wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Pierre de Saillé" (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): Pierre de SailléCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q3387688CC0