Armorica, cradle of megaliths
The house of the Elves in the Regional Natural Park of Armorique
An archaeologist from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) has crossed 2,410 carbon-14 datings carried out on megalithic sites on the continent.
Bettina Schulz Paulsson is formal: the megaliths of northwestern France date back to 4,700 years before our era. Which makes them the European deans of the category. The archaeologist from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) crossed 2,410 carbon-14 datings carried out on megalithic sites on the continent. The model would have spread from present-day Brittany via the sea routes, along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts then towards Northern Europe.
A monumental chronological milestone
This discovery constitutes a monumental chronological milestone for researchers studying these circles, dolmens, menhirs and other alignments with funerary, religious or even astronomical functions. It comes exactly 40 years after another major breakthrough, this time concerning their construction. In 1979, an experimental archeology campaign carried out on the megalithic site of Bougon (Deux-Sèvres) demonstrated that the stone blocks could have been extracted using deer antler picks, bovid scapulae, hammerstones flint or wet wooden wedges, inserted into the rock to fracture it.
Ten volunteers managed to transport a slab of 32 tons
On June 22, 1997, on the same site, ten volunteers managed to transport a 32-tonne slab placed on logs by pivoting the latter thanks to wooden bars stuck inside or held by linen ropes. A system of removable levers and wedges has also made it possible to raise it by one meter. The 350 tons of the Locmariaquer slab (Morbihan) would simply have required a larger workforce.
By Laure Dubesset-Chatelain
Source : websites