An Archaeological Study Tour

Megaliths & MonumentsBrittany, France & Wiltshire, England

212-986-3054886-740-5130archtours@aol.com

Stonehenge

Introducing ‘Brittany’ 2015

Roy Larick, Lecturer

May 6-20, 201515 Days

Neolithic ritual landscape

Wiltshire

Brittany

of Brittany & Wiltshire

Megaliths & Monuments visits four areas:

Morbihan

Finistère

Ille-et-Vilaine

Wiltshire

Morbihan Finistère

Ille-et-Vilaine Wiltshire

Let’s look at a few sites in each area …

Stonehenge

BarnenezGavrinis

Mont-Saint-Michel

Morbihan

With lower sea levels during the Neolithic, the Quiberon Bay and Morbihan Gulf were fertile coastal plains The Neolithic landscape supported mixed agriculture with significant seafood and wild game complements.

Morbihan

Quiberon Presque

Isle

Locmariaquer

Carnac

Quiberon Bay

Morbihan Gulf

On Brittany’s southwest flank, Morbihan is a region of low hills and indented shoreline.

We visit megalithic sites in Carnac, Locmariaquer and Quiberon.

Carnac alignment

Just north of Carnac the Neolithic landscape is dominated by a standing stone alignment, 4 km in length. We have a guided visit to the protected areas at Le Menec and Kermario.

Locmariaquer Megalith Site

Three monuments are of interest at the megalith site:

Grand Menhir Brisé (big broken stone) lies as it fell and broke into 4 pieces (black #4)

Table des Marchand cairn and passage grave dolmen (black #2)

Er Grah cairn and cist grave dolmen (black #3)

Mané-Lud passage grave

Just north of the megalith site, Mané-Lud has a major dolmen and burial cairn within a large mound. When excavated during the 1860s, horse skulls were found against some of the upright interiors. Among several decorated uprights, the 6’-high back stone (#1) has a spouting sperm whale.

Gavrinis cairn/passage grave

160 dia x 20 high, with monumental facade and forecourt or esplanade′ ′Built ~3500 BC and suddenly abandoned ~3000 BC).

Simple passage grave: passage 45’ long, chamber 8 square′Oriented to midwinter sunrise and maximum declination moonrise29 slabs constitute the passage and chamber, including the sillstone and capstone 23 uprights engraved with axes, shields, Us, croziers, chevrons, serpentines, zigzags, etcRecycled capstone fits with capstones of nearby Table des Marchands and Er Grah

East of Locmariaquer, in the Morbihan Gulf, Gavrinis also has complex structure:

Tomb

Cairn

The generally east-west trending fault lines make for several west-facing peninsulas.

FinistèreWestern half of the Armorican massif.

The Monts d’Arrée are the dominating inland feature. These old, low mountains hold few natural lines of communication.

… and caves grew within.

Homo heidelbergensis occupied wave-cut rock shelters within this granite cliff . The site’s many charcoal-rich features reach back to 465,000 years ago.

Menéz Drégan rock shelter

The main chamber is 14 m long with 16 wall stones and four capstones. Several upright have engraved death palettes and daggers with a few polished axe motifs. One upright has pairs of double hemispheres generally interpreted as funereal goddesses.

Morgau-Bihan passage grave

The church has 16th-century polychrome statuary. There is also an octagonal baptistery, a carved pulpit and pardon procession banners. The calvary is surrounded by a Passion in statuary.

Guimiliau parish close

We visit three classic Finistère parish closes: Tronoën, Guimiliau, and Saint-Thégonnec

A special stop is Roc’h Toul cave, southwest of Morlaix. It is one of Brittany’s few deep caves.In 1882, Gabriel de Mortillet used Roc’h Toul artifacts to help define the Magdalenian stage in his pioneering book, Le Préhistorique.

The cairn (240’ long, up to 80’ wide and over 25’ high) was built in two sections. Around 4800 BCE, a first structure covered 5 passage graves. About 4200 BCE, 6 more passage graves sere added and covered.

Barnenez cairn/passage graves

Several chambers and passages have engraved figurative symbols including bow, axe, wave/snake and U-shape as well as funereal goddess.

Inside the passage, opposite the entrance, an upright stone holds an engraving of two breasts and underlying necklace/collar /crossed arms. Another face of this upright holds a cross-like symbol.

Crec’h-Quillé passage grave

Ille-et-Vilaine

llle-et-Vilaine is the more cosmopolitan area of Brittany, with closer ties to France, Normandy, and England. In Ille-et-Vilaine , we feel the influence of the Pays-de-Loire, a rich natural environment.

Château de Fougères fortress One of Europe’s largest medieval fortresses, Fougères has three enclosures, 13 towers and one of just three belfries in Brittany.

Roche-aux-Fées passage grave

The dolmen is 65’ long, 16’ wide and 7’ high. The stones are nearly rectangular reddish brown basaltic blocks, some weighing up to 40 tons. The quarry outcrop lies 4 km away. Roche-aux-Fées appears on the Cassini map of France (1782).

Mont-Saint-Michel tidal island

‘Tomb Hill’ was a strategic Armorican outpost in prehistoric times. With the departure of the Romans in CE 460, the island reenergized its trans-channel Celtic connections. With Frankish invasions after CE 481, the island became part of Neustria. The monastery rose after 708. During ninth century Viking invasions, Mont Saint-Michel came under Breton protection but soon became Norman.

Wiltshire

In the modern landscape, we exit Brittany’s compact, closely-spaced stone-built towns to find Britain’s larger more isolated settlements in which brick dominates.

Wiltshire is moderately rolling with deep soils and little apparent rock.

In the Neolithic landscape, Brittany’s stone cairns become Britain’s earthen henges (bank-and-ditch enclosures).

Stonehenge

~8000 BC, a timber alignment was probably built~3100 BC, the first henge was built around a funerary center~3000 BC, a timber structure was built within the henge; more cremations ~2600 BC, timber was abandoned for two concentric standing stone arrays ~2300 BC, a bluestone circle was built between two sarsen structures ~1600 BC, last known construction at Stonehenge

Neolithic henge & stone circles focused on sacrificial burials and celestial observation

Avebury Henge (henge, stone circles & alignments)

The Avebury area grew as a large Neolithic religious landscape. Construction began around 2600 BC with the West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill. The henge/stone circles and the standing stone alignments were then added. The monuments were effectively abandoned by the Iron Age.

Old Sarum

A motte and bailey castle was built in 1069. In 1086, William the Conqueror received homage here; Bishop Osmund commenced building the cathedral. In 1219, the cathedral was demolished in favor of the new one built near the river and the townspeople moved down to the new city, then called New Sarum and, finally, Salisbury.

Overlooking the River Avon, Old Sarum hill was probably a strategic riverside crossroad in the Amesbury-Avebury Neolithic landscape. During the Roman occupation, Sorviodunum was a military station commanding convergence of five important roads.

Salisbury Cathedral

The Anglican cathedral at New Sarum has the tallest church spire in the UK (404 ft), as well as the largest cloister and the largest cathedral close in Britain (80 acres). The cathedral contains the world’s oldest working clock (AD 1386) and has the best of the four original copies of the Magna Carta.

An Archaeological Study Tour

Megaliths & MonumentsBrittany, France & Wiltshire, England

212-986-3054886-740-5130archtours@aol.com

Stonehenge

Roy Larick, Lecturer

May 6-20, 201515 Days

I look forward to meeting you on ‘Brittany’ 2015

Roy Larick

Walk back in time Look to the Future

Euclid bluestone outcropDoan Brook, Cleveland OH

Bluestone Heights

© 2015 Bluestone HeightsR. Larick

A production by

bluestoneheights.org

roylarick@gmail.com