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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Loreto Tumular Terten, often mistakenly referred to as a cromlech, is a neolithic funerary site located in the municipality of Quillio in Côtes-d'Armor. This monument, of rectangular shape (20 m long by 7 m wide), is bounded by slabs of quartz to the north and sandstone to the south, some inclined or reversed. An indicator menhir, now overturned, is 3 m west in the axis of the terre. The site was searched in 1958, revealing poor funeral furniture, composed of fragments of hunting pottery and lustre sandstone tools, without trace of bones due to acidity of the soil.

The excavations showed similarities with other tumular tertres of the region, such as that of the Saint Peter's Cross. These common features include the location on a high site unfit for agriculture, the presence of an indicator menhir, and a concentration of burials in the eastern part of the earth. Funeral furniture, very small, suggests sober funeral practices typical of Breton Neolithic.

Ranked a historic monument on 29 March 1926, the terre de Lorette belongs today to the town of Quillio. Its architecture, marked by joint slabs and blocks with varying dimensions, reflects the construction techniques of the era. Despite its partial state, the site remains an important testimony of funeral practices and beliefs of neolithic communities in Brittany.

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