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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The alignment of Traonigou, located on the town of Porspoder in Finistère, is a megalithic site dating from the Neolithic. Until the early 1880s, it consisted of three menhirs and a block lying on the ground. However, one of the menhirs was destroyed between 1882 and 1895, reducing the alignment to two erect stones and a block that would itself be destroyed in 1923. The remains of the latter were said to have been used to build a nearby road.

The two menhirs still standing are granite from the Aber-Ildut. The westernmost is 4.15 metres high, while the easternmost is 2.95 metres high. Their exact positioning and that of the missing menhir remain uncertain: according to some sources, the third menhir was at the east end, while others place it between the two present stones. Menhirs were classified as historical monuments in 1921 and 1923.

The site illustrates the funeral and ritual practices of Neolithic in Brittany, a period marked by the erection of many megaliths. These monuments, often linked to astronomical alignments or places of worship, bear witness to the social and spiritual organization of the communities of the time. Their partial preservation allows us to study the techniques of size and transport of stones, as well as their symbolic significance in the Breton landscape.

Available sources, including the work of Alfred Devoir, P. du Châtellier, and E. Morel, provide descriptions and assumptions on the original site configuration. These documents, combined with archaeological surveys, provide valuable insights into the evolution and degradation of megalithic alignments in Finistère over the centuries.

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