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The Megalithic Monuments of Southern Finistère
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 January 2012
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The country west and south of Quimper in the department of Finistère contains a notable concentration of megalithic monuments. They are of various types and some are quite distinct from the better-known monuments of the region round the Gulf of Morbihan in Southern Brittany. The map (pl. I) shows the distribution of the monuments. It is based largely on a survey of the area undertaken in the summer of 1924. I wish to express my thanks to M. Georges Monot of Pont-l'Abbé for his invaluable assistance and guidance in a country in which good roads are few, and the monuments very difficult to locate. The bulk of the work of excavation, in this area, was undertaken by the late P. du Chatellier towards the end of the last century. Many of the monuments were ravaged before he began operations, and even those found more or less intact were rarely preserved after excavation, so that to-day a large proportion are in a very ruined condition. The reports of excavations are to be found in various Breton periodicals and in the French archaeological journals, especially in the volumes of Matériaux pour l'histoire de l'homme. Du Chatellier also gives a summarized account of his work in Les Époques préhistoriques et gauloises dans le Finistère, second edition, Rennes 1907, which covers the whole of the department. The appendix at the end of this paper, which gives a summarized inventory of the monuments of the region, cites references where possible to the reports of excavations.
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- Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1927
References
page 6 note 1 The passage dolmen (dolmen-à-galerie) is essentially the same in construction as the ‘passage-grave’ of the British long barrows; but in this area, and in Brittany generally, the tumulus is usually circular, while the furniture is much richer than in the similar tombs of Britain.
page 7 note 1 The eastern gallery and part of the northern were explored by A. du Chatellier in 1862; in 1902, Commandant A. Martin explored the entire monument and was fortunate enough to find the upper end of the northern gallery intact. See Martin, A., ‘Nouvelles explorations du tumulus de Poulguen’, Bull. Soc. Arch, du Finistère, XXIX, 2, p. 23, 1902.Google Scholar
page 8 note 1 du Chatellier, P., ‘Les Deux Tumulus de Rosmeur, Pointe de Penmarc'h (Finistère)’, Matériaux, vol. X, 1879, p. 145Google Scholar. From the description and figures (see reproduction on pl. II, no. 1) the vault does not seem to have been truly corbelled, as, for example, at Île Longue in the Gulf of Morbihan. It is, however, difficult to see how the two uprights alone could have supported a non-corbelled roof of small slabs.
page 10 note 1 P. du Chatellier, Ép. Préb., pp. 25 and 280, and pl. IV.
page 10 note 2 Chatellier, P. du, Matériaux, XI, 1880, p. 49.Google Scholar
page 10 note 3 In some cases, as at Pen-ar-Menez, the central covered chamber might better be called a gallery, but in others it consists of a simple rectangular dolmen, e. g. at Tronwal-Kervintic, and does not give access to the lateral chambers. These monuments are distinct in construction from the multiple-chambered galleries of Southern Morbihan, in all of which the chambers are covered and communicate with a welldeveloped gallery.
page 11 note 1 They also occur in some of the galleries, e. g. at Poulguen and at Rosmeur.
page 12 note 1 Du Chatellier, Ép. Préb., p. 305.
page 12 note 2 Op. cit., p. 321.
page 12 note 3 Op. cit., p. 313.
page 12 note 4 Op. cit., p. 279.
page 13 note 1 Ép. Préb., p. 319. Cf. burials in Spain with a similar relation to the megalithic culture.
page 13 note 2 Du Chatellier, , ‘Exploration des Tumulus de Fao Youen et de Cosmaner en Ploneour Lanvern’, Bull. Arch., 1893, 3me, p. 394Google Scholar.
page 13 note 3 See Cartailhac, , ‘L'Incinération des hommes à l'âge de pierre polie’, Mat., 1888.Google Scholar
page 13 note 4 Matériaux, 1880, vol. XI, pl. VI, fig. 2.Google Scholar
page 14 note 1 Du Chatellier, Ép. Préb., p. 281, and collection at the Château de Kernuz, now transferred to St. Germain.
page 14 note 2 Chatellier, P. du, ‘Dolmens et chambres sépulcrales de Kervignon, etc’, Matériaux, 1881, vol. XII, p. 256, and pl. VIII, nos. 3 and 4.Google Scholar
page 17 note 1 No analysis of these objects appears to have been made.
page 18 note 1 du Chatellier, P., ‘Explorations de quelques sépultures de l'Époque de Bronze, etc.’, Mém. Soc. d'Émulation des Côtes-du-Nord, 1883, p. 40, and Ép. Préb., p. 47.Google Scholar
page 18 note 2 See Marsille, L., ‘Le Tumulus de Coet en Garf en Elven et les sépultures de l'Âge du Bronze dans le Morbihan’, Bull. Soc. Polymathique du Morbihan, 1913, p. 110Google Scholar, and also Martin, A., ‘Les Sépultures armoricaines à belles pointes de flèche en silex’, L'Anthropologie, 1900, XI, p. 159.Google Scholar
page 19 note 1 Du Chatellier, Ep. Préb., p. 32; id., La Destination des Menbirs, Tours; Millon, A., ‘Les Tombeaux préhistoriques’, B. S. Arch, de l'Ille-et-Vilaine, 1921, XLVIII, p. 47 ff.Google Scholar; Fonquet, , B.S. Pol. Morb., 1864, p. 56Google Scholar; Chouquet, , Matériaux, 1877, p. 312Google Scholar; Forde, C. D., ‘Menhirs and Burials’, Man, Dec. 1924, no. 133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
page 19 note 2 Chatellier, Du, ‘Fouilles au pied des menhirs du Canton de Pont-l'Abbé’, Mat., 1881, XII, p. 49.Google Scholar
page 20 note 1 Leeds, E. Thurlow, ‘The Dolmens and Megalithic Tombs of Spain and Portugal’, Archaeologia, LXX, 20fGoogle Scholar.
page 21 note 1 L. Marsille, op. cit.