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Origin and history

The megalithic necropolis of Pointe du Souc'h, located in Menez Dregan in the commune of Plouhinec (Finistère), is a funeral complex dating from the Neolithic period. It consists of a tomb in a primitive pit (4530–4360 BC) and five dolmens built successively between the Middle and Final Neolithic (4000–2200 BC). These structures, integrated into a 42 m long cairn, illustrate the evolution of architectural and ritual practices over more than two millennia. The excavations revealed abundant furniture, including characteristic pottery (including "Souc'h pottery"), flint tools, and trimmings, confirming the cultural and symbolic importance of the site.

The site was first described in 1844 by the Chevalier de Fréminville, who misinterpreted it as a "driid sanctuary." The first excavations, carried out in 1870–71 by Alexis Grenot, brought to light a compartmentalized structure and a diversified funerary furniture (haches, arrow tips, pearls, vases). Despite this discovery, the site served as a stone quarry until the 1970s, before becoming a historic monument in 1979. Between 2000 and 2007, Michel Le Goffic conducted new excavation campaigns, allowing for partial restoration and accurate dating of the various construction phases.

The initial pit grave, facing east-northwest/southwest, contained two vases attributed to Cerny's culture, arrow frames, and an eclogite polished axe. Covered by a 26-metre-long terrace, it is the best preserved neolithic burial in Lower Britain for this period. The later dolmens, built between 4000 and 2200 B.C., have various architectures: compartmentalized rooms, access corridors, and cairns with attached walls. The fifth dolmen, the most recent, contained shale and clinochlor beads, as well as campaniform pottery teasses, attesting to use up to Chalcolithic.

Construction materials, extracted from local quarries, include orthognesis dislocated with coastal pebbles used as impactors. Exhumed lithic furniture (more than 2,000 flints of flint, axes, spear tips) and trim elements (collars, pendants) reveal advanced craftsmanship. The pottery, distinguished by its fine pulp and perforated means of gripping, gave its name to the "type Souc'h", making this site an archaeological reference for the region.

Despite the deterioration experienced in the 19th century and its exploitation as a quarry, the necropolis has been given late protection (1979) and recent restorations. The excavations of Le Goffic have partially reconstructed the cairn's spatial organization and refined the construction chronology. Today, the site offers an exceptional witness to the funeral and social practices of Breton Neolithic communities, from their technical mastery to their symbolic vision of death.

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