Pause Midi: The Megalithic Monuments of France

During the Late Neolithic (5000–3500 BCE), a multitude of megalithic monuments appeared in western France, from Brittany and Normandy in the north to Aquitaine and Rousillon in the south. Some are single standing stones (menhirs), others are large blocks poised on smaller ones (pierres levées), and still others form elongated passages (allées couvertes). Some are immense piles of smaller stones (tumuli). A few occur in large clusters (the alignments and dolmens of Carnac or the tumuli of Bougon), while others stand alone in the middle of fields or woods (La Roches-aux-Fées and St. Fort-sur-le-Né, our favorites among many others).  Most are plain or have a few small carved marks, but one has complicated, incised swirls (the tumulus of Gavrinis). 

Some were used as burial chambers, to judge from the human remains found there, but the functions of many, as well as the original purposes of all, are unknown. We do not know why village famers, living in small, probably thatched huts with open fires, who hunted, fished, and farmed with tools of stone, bone, and wood, lacking metals and possessing only human- and animal-powered traction, should have expended so much time and energy moving and mounting these stones. Whatever the motivation, these monuments are impressive testimony to the strength, skill, and social coordination of Stone Age farmers.  

Megalithic monuments have inspired Erik and Kim Trinkaus to pursue them, à la chasse aux dolmens, through visits to numerous corners of western France, from well-known tourist sites to remote vineyards and woods.  It is hoped that this Pause-Midi walk through megalithic monuments will inspire you, as well, with their astonishing witness to the deep roots of human culture in France.

Erik Trinkaus is a retired paleoanthropologist and prehistorian, living in Vermont after an academic career. He has worked with colleagues on prehistoric remains across Europe and Southwest Asia, as well as in East Asia.  He worked for extended periods at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris and was closely affiliated with the Université de Bordeaux. Given a general interest in things prehistoric, and extended periods in France working and relaxing, he developed an amateur’s interest in and fondness for megalithic monuments. This Pause Midi talk is an outgrowth of the time spent, with Kim Trinkaus, searching out and visiting dolmens and menhirs scattered through the countryside of western France. 

This Pause Midi presentation will take place October 18 at noon via Zoom.