Gaignoc Island

Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Gaignoc (or Guenioc/Guennoc), located off the peninsula of Sainte-Marguerite in the municipality of Landeda (Finistère), houses four cairns dated from the Neolithic. The oldest, dating back 4,600 years BC, makes it one of the oldest megalithic monuments in Europe, comparable to the cairn of Barnenez. The excavations (1960-1972) revealed amphores attesting to exchanges with the Mediterranean, as well as a circular enclosure of 50 m of occupied diameter from the 5th to the 8th century, surrounded by a slope and then a dry stone wall.

The enclosure housed a central house and a second behind the wall, with low stone walls supporting structures probably covered with stubble. A third exterior building, perhaps a stable, completed the whole. The fields were delimited by small slopes. The site, classified as a Historic Monument in 1964, was also a boarding point for Allied airmen during the Second World War, thanks to the action of local resistance.

Archaeological remains, including cairns and medieval structures, cover the entire island (cadastre section A3). Their preservation is ensured by classification as historical monuments, stressing their importance in understanding neolithic exchanges and the subsequent occupation of the Breton coast.

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