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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The two menhirs of Caurel, located in the Côtes d'Armor, are the last vestiges of a megalithic alignment of the Neolithic, now almost entirely destroyed. Originally, there were at least seven menhirs: five were destroyed at the end of the 19th century, leaving a menhir standing and another lying about 5 metres away. The still standing menhir, in slate shale, was 4.10 m long for a thickness of 0.34 m, but it was reversed between 1949 and 1950, breaking at the base when it fell. The second menhir, 4 m long, was already lying on the ground.

In 1952, the remaining two menhirs were classified as historical monuments. Although a reorganization project was envisaged that year, it was never carried out. Three years later, in 1955, the landowner moved the menhirs, along with other similar stone blocks, to the edge of a field. Since then, they are gradually sinking into the slope, gradually disappearing from the landscape. Their present state reflects both natural degradation and successive human interventions.

The alignment of Bel-Air, of which these menhirs are part, illustrates the funeral and cultural practices of Neolithic in Brittany. These monuments, often associated with territorial rites or markings, were characteristic of the agro-pastoral societies of the time. Their progressive destruction, as early as the 19th century, took place in a wider context of ignorance or neglect of the megalithic heritage, before protective measures were put in place in the 20th century. Today, these remains offer a fragmentary but precious testimony of this distant period.

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