Dolmen of Kerangouez - Bretagne

Bretagne is full of dolmens and menhirs - standing stones and structures from the stone age! Many of them are just off a road, on the edge of a modern field - easy to get to...

We took a little detour on our way from the north coast of Bretagne to the city of Brest, our new home for a few weeks.

~~~ From the plaque ~~~

The Dolmen of Kerangouez, is also known as the Dolmen of Kérivin, in Breton it means "stone table". The field where it stands figured in the land registry under the name of Parc ar C'héo "the field of the cavern" and was part of a much bigger structure.

The large stone slabs of the top were covered with heaps of earth and stones and formed a tumulus (like at the Cairn of Barnenez).

There was a corridor inside the dolmen and a 5-metre chamber almost perpendicular to it. The corridor was at the side entrance and served as a sepulchral chamber. It dates from the neolithic age (the new stone age) which in Brittany stretched from 5.000 and 2.000 BC. It is the trace of a very ancient people and is the sole megalithic vestige in the area, although there had been other dolmens and menhirs here until the middle of the 20th century.

During the Palaeolithic period, man subsisted by hunting, fishing and gathering plants. He was a predator, During the Neolithic age which followed, his way of life deeply changed. He produced his own food by raising cattle and farming the land. He settled in villages and became closely linked to the land. He used clay to make pottery, produced baskets and wove bark and liana. Following this, he learnt to weave wool and could make his own clothes. This marked the beginning of a new civilisation.

The dolmen of Kerangouez has been classed as a historical monument since 1909.