Site mégalithique de la Lande du Gras
DatedEst. 4500–3300 BCE
Photo Dolly11 · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The megalithic site of the Lande du Gras is a complex of Neolithic-period monuments at Meslin in the department of Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany, France. Within a radius of a little under 500 m stand four gallery graves (allées couvertes), two menhirs and a probable tumulus. A typological estimate places the monuments between 4500 and 3300 BCE.
One gallery grave, La Guigne Folle, was classified as a historical monument in 1962, and the whole site was inscribed in 1996.
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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
Site mégalithique de la Lande du Gras
It is partly ruinous: only three of its six capstones remain in place, and the other three have fallen.
DescriptionSources for this section
Sources for this section
The first gallery grave, known as La Guigne Folle, measures 16 m in length with an internal width of 1.35 m. It is partly ruinous: only three of its six capstones remain in place, and the other three have fallen. All its elements are of Eocene sandstone. About 200 m to the south-east stands a small sandstone menhir, 1.15 m high, 2.50 m wide and 0.50 m thick, oriented approximately east-west.
The second gallery grave, sometimes called the allée couverte du Champ des Caves, lies at the south-eastern edge of the heath and measures 14 m in length. It is oriented south-west/north-east and has a terminal cell at the north-east end.
The third gallery grave stands 10 m from the menhir known as La Chaise à Margot or Chaise à Madame, which is its indicator menhir and is 2.05 m high. The gallery is ruined, but it is estimated to have measured about 9.80 m in length and 1.60 m in width. All its elements and the menhir are of Eocene sandstone.
A fourth gallery grave, excavated in 1842, had disappeared by about 1885. The flint tools collected there were deposited in the museum of Saint-Brieuc.
In the middle of the site, at a geodetic marker at an altitude of 96 m, a confused group of natural blocks and blocks of human origin may be the remains of a levelled tumulus.
ArchaeologySources for this section
Sources for this section
In 1865 a farmer partially excavated La Guigne Folle and found a polished axe of chloromélanite and an archer's wristguard of schist. Fragments of pottery attributed to the Bell Beaker culture were also recovered there. Surveys on the site have collected several portable finds attributable to the Neolithic and the Iron Age.
ContextSources for this section
Sources for this section
Some of the oldest monuments in Europe are in western France, where the Carnac stones in Brittany, more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones, form the largest such collection in the world.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
French megaliths
The Atlas's general "megalith" records for France cover a range of monuments: dolmens and covered alleys (allées couvertes), menhirs, cromlechs, tumuli, groups of stones, and polissoirs. Some of the oldest monuments in Europe are in western France, and the Carnac stones in Brittany, with more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones, are the largest collection in the world.
A polissoir, "polisher", is a Neolithic stone tool used for polishing and sharpening stone objects, especially axes, adzes and chisels. They date to about 5,000 years ago. Polissoirs are typically large stones with smooth, concave surfaces or grooves, made of hard and abrasive rocks such as sandstone, granite or quartzite, and the surface often shows distinctive wear patterns from the back-and-forth motion used to refine the edges of tools. They come in two types: earthfast, large and immovable and found in their original position, and portable. A polissoir is not strictly a megalith, but it is recorded with them because it is a large stone of the same period.
In the Atlas a record with an unspecified type receives a broad Neolithic range, since it cannot be tied to a particular phase. Many small dolmens survive only as a few stones in a field and cannot be dated closely.
Folklore: La Roche-aux-Fées near Essé takes its name, "the fairies' rock", from a legend that fairies placed the stones.
When visiting, look for the polished grooves on boulders near dolmens, and for the way a capstone is propped.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Carnac stones, Wikipedia: Polissoir, Wikipedia: La Roche-aux-Fées · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1865
En 1865, un paysan la fouilla partiellement et y découvrit une hache polie en chloromélanite et un brassard d'archer en schiste.
Source - 1885
Une quatrième allée couverte, disparue vers 1885, fut fouillée sur le site en 1842. Les outils de silex recueillis sur place furent déposés au musée de Saint-Brieuc.
Source - 1962
Une allée couverte, appelée La Guigne Folle, est classée au titre des monuments historiques en 1962 et l'ensemble du site est inscrit en 1996.
Source - 2005
Loïc Langouët, Les mégalithes de l'arrondissement de Saint-Brieuc, Institut Culturel de Bretagne, 2005, 89 p.
Source
Photographs
4 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. 4500–3300 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megaliths in France; this site has not been dated itself. The megaliths of north-west France are among the oldest in Europe; the Carnac stones date from 4500-3300 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
France
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 48°26′14″ N, 2°35′09″ WFor a GPS or map app: 48.43732, -2.58571
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.
Allée couverte du Champ-Grosset4000–3000 BCE
menhir de Carquitté2800–1800 BCE
Allée couverte du Chêne-Hut4500–3300 BCE
dolmen du Carouge4000–3000 BCE
La Roche Camio gallery grave4500–3300 BCE
Fuseau de Margot à Plédran2800–1800 BCE
Allée couverte du Petit-Chêne4000–3000 BCE
Menhir de Guihallon2800–1800 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q22925118wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Allée couverte du Champ-Grosset8.0 km W
- menhir de Carquitté8.3 km NW
- Allée couverte du Chêne-Hut11 km NE
- dolmen du Carouge11 km S
- La Roche Camio gallery grave12 km W
- Fuseau de Margot à Plédran12 km W
- Allée couverte du Petit-Chêne12 km W
- Menhir de Guihallon13 km E
- Allée couverte des Meurtiaux13 km SE
- Menhirs de Saint-Mirel14 km SE
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Site mégalithique de la Lande du Gras" (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