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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Dolmen de Tréguelec'hier, also known as the Cosquer or Creach-Gallic covered driveway, is a megalithic monument located in the town of Goulven, in Finistère (British). This funeral site, dated from the Neolithic, presents itself as a covered driveway oriented north-west/south-east, with a room measuring 3 meters long by 1.60 meters wide. A single cover slab, made of plounévez-Lochrist eyelined gneisses, remains in situ, measuring 3.45 m by 2.45 m, while other blocks, some of which are used to support a slope, are scattered around. The northern part of the monument was altered when a road was built.

The first known description of the site dates back to 1832, written by the Chevalier de Fréminville. Other studies included the surveys of William Collings Lukis in 1864, Paul du Châtellier in 1881, and d'E. Morel in 1926. This work documented the structure, including a line of four orthostats (1.20 to 1.40 m in height) to the southwest and a vertical slab symmetrical to the bedside slab. Access to the funeral chamber was probably on the northeast side. The monument was classified as historic monuments by two decrees in 1883 and 1920, highlighting its heritage importance.

Most of the materials used for construction come from a local outcrop of eye-catching gneisses, with the exception of a granite slab. A large slab in the south-east, bearing traces of attempts at cutting, could correspond to a second cover table. The site illustrates the megalithic construction techniques of the time, as well as the collective funeral practices of Neolithic in Brittany. Its present state reflects both its seniority and the disturbances experienced over the centuries, especially in modern developments.

Available sources, including Wikipedia and the Merimée database, confirm its approximate address to Pen Ar Creac Dolmen remains a key evidence of Finistrian megalithism, integrated with prehistoric site networks in the region. Its classification among historical monuments makes it a privileged subject of study for archaeologists, as evidenced by the bibliographical references, including the book Les megalithes de l'arrondissement de Brest (2009) by Yohann Sparfel and Yvan Pailler.

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