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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Stones-Plates, a neolithic covered walkway located at Locmariaquer (Morbihan), was searched in 1813 by Maudet de Penhoët, who saw a "trap" there and noted interior engravings interpreted as Phoenician scriptures. Fréminville, in 1814 and 1816, saw its gradual destruction. In 1866, only two engraved slabs remained on the five initials. The state acquired the site in 1892, the restaurant after excavations had revealed pottery dating from the 4th-IIIth millennium BC.

The 27-28 m long monument consists of 38 orthostats and 12 roof tables, with a cubited structure and a square terminal chamber. Two orthognesis slabs, of a suspicious regularity, could be reuses. A pseudo-menhir, erected in 1936 by Le Rouzic near the entrance, carries cups. The engravings on 12 orthostats, mostly scutiform or in "cartons", suggest a complex symbolism.

Ranked a historic monument in 1889, the site escaped destruction in 1942 during the construction of the Atlantic Wall by Todt. The excavations of 1892 revealed flints, punches and coarse vases, confirming its funeral use. The visible concrete slabs date from the restorations of 1892 and 1921.

The engravings, partially disappeared since 1813, include motifs of circles and "horseshoes" divided by vertical lines. The archaeological furniture, poor (bones, a urn), contrasts with the richness of the surrounding megalithic structures, like the large broken menhir of Locmariaquer. The site illustrates the collective funeral architecture of the Breton Neolithic.

The property of the monument, initially at Auray's hospices, passed to the state in 1892. The engravings of the engraved slabs, made by de Cussé and Louis Wales in 1866, remain key documents for studying the missing motifs. The proposed dating (late 4th-early 3rd millennium BC) builds on the style of pottery discovered during restorations.

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