Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Dolmen de Kermario is a megalithic monument located in Carnac, Morbihan, Brittany. It marks the southwest end of the famous Kermario alignments, dating from the Neolithic. This site, classified as historical monuments in 1889, illustrates the importance of the collective funeral buildings of that time. Its architecture, from dolmen to corridor, opens south/south-eastward, a direction potentially linked to symbolic or astronomical considerations.

The first excavations, conducted in 1877 by J. Miln, revealed significant archaeological furniture, including a polished axe, flint fragments and pottery fragments. These artifacts, now preserved at the Museum of Prehistory in Carnac, offer an overview of Neolithic tools and craft practices. A major restoration was undertaken in 1929 by Zacharie Le Rouzic, a local archaeology figure, to preserve the structure threatened by weather and weather.

The Kermario dolmen is part of a larger megalithic complex, characteristic of the Carnac region. These monuments, erected between 4500 and 2000 BC, reflect a society organized around complex beliefs and collective funeral rites. Their precise alignment and their persistence throughout the millennia underline their central role in the memory and cultural identity of Brittany. Studies and inventories, such as those of Félix Gaillard (1892) or Zacharie Le Rouzic (1965), have helped document and value this exceptional heritage.

External links