Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The menhirs des Longrais, located in the commune of Soumont-Saint-Quentin in Calvados, were discovered in 1957 almost entirely buried near the departmental D 261a. Two of the three stones were raised in 1962, while the third, smaller and of uncertain authenticity, remained buried. These megaliths, made of Armomeric sandstone with white and pink hues (2.60 m and 1.60 m high), were moved 400 m by a farmer despite their protection, to be straightened at the east end of the rocky spur of Mount Joly.

The nearby archaeological site reveals traces of the first farmers in Basse-Normandie, including a 1.65-metre pit containing charcoal and pottery studs in front of one of the menhirs. Close by, a rock shelter, polishers and more than 20,000 flint extraction wells (to Bretteville-le-Rabet) attest to intense neolithic activity. These discoveries underline the importance of Mount Joly as a place for living and exploiting resources from that time.

Ranked historic monuments on April 3, 1978, the Longrai Menhirs illustrate Norman megalithic heritage. Their protection aims to preserve this testimony of the funeral or symbolic practices of Neolithic, a period marked by the sedentarization and development of agriculture in the region. The archaeologist Bernard Edeine played a key role in their study, highlighting their historical and cultural context.

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