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Between Etel and Penerf rias, passing through the shores of the Carnac plateau, the Quiberon peninsula and the estuary of Auray and Vannes rivers, just over 1.500 submerged monoliths are recorded in Morbihan, divided into 34 sites, all located between 0 and -5 m NGF. In addition to these monumental works, there are some funeral mounds and passage tombs dating from the 7th and 6th millennia BP. This brief synthesis will present the results obtained from submarine domain surveys using various geophysical tools

The history of research on the Neolithic of the Atlantic façade shows how speculation about prehistoric mobility, especially across the sea, is mainly based on three types of archaeological evidence: megalithic monuments, rare stones, and pottery decoration. With the aim of approaching the issue from other perspectives, we have focused on the Morbihan area, a focal point of the European Neolithic during the mid-5th millennium BC. The analysis of this area has allowed us to grasp which objects, ideas and beliefs may have been desired, adopted and imitated at the time. We shall begin with an architectural concept, the standing stone. These were sometimes engraved with signs that can be directly compared between Brittany, Galicia (NW Spain) and Portugal, but for which there are no intermediate parallels in other areas of the French or Spanish coast. The unique accumulation and transformation of polished blades made of Alpine rocks and found inside tombs or in other sort of depositions in the Carnac region allowed us to establish a second link with Galicia and the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, where certain types of the axes were imitated using a set of different rocks (sillimanite, amphibolite). Finally, the variscites and turquoises from different Spanish regions were used for the manufacture of beads and pendants at the Carnacean tombs, without it being possible – once again – to retrieve similar objects in the intermediate areas. The mastery of direct Atlantic sea routes is posed as an explanation for this geographical distribution. But, beyond the information drawn from specific artefacts – whose presence/absence should not be used in excess as an argument to endorse or underrate such movements across the ocean – we will return to a more poetic and universal phenomenon: the spell of the sea. Therefore, we will focus on the depictions of boats on the stelae of Morbihan to open such a debate.

From now preserved and presented in the museum of Nemours, the Ouche de Beauce engraved stele (Maisse, Essonne) is a representative example of the elements of architecture and the neolithic iconographic programs inventoried in Gâtinais and in western border of the massif of Fontainebleau. The study would like to expose the various recordings techniques on the monolith and on the engravings, with the aim of a surface and chronological analysis of them, inside a three-dimensional model of the support. If the so-called anthropomorph representations on a face of the stele are peculiar to the considered geographical area, an even more abstract motive registered on the opposite face is clearly under the influence of the symbolic representations from Morbihan.

Con este artículo, se pretende ofrecer una síntesis de las diferentes fases de ocupación del entorno arqueológico del Grand Menhir y la Table des Marchands (Locmariaquer, Morbihan, Francia). Se realiza así un recorrido por la evolución del sitio basándose en los datos que han proporcionado las diferentes excavaciones desarrolladas en el lugar y los análisis de laboratorio más recientes. Hay que destacar no obstante que las diferentes fases de ocupación no tienen por qué ser sinónimo de etapas constructivas. Por ello, la Fase 0 correspondería a la ocupación previa del lugar antes de la erección de las primeras arquitecturas monumentales. Se caracteriza por la presencia en el paleosuelo de industria lítica mesolítica (al igual que ocurre en otros túmulos de la zona) y de los primeros restos de cerámica, que marcan la transición a sociedades de carácter agrícola en torno al VI-V milenio a.C. La Fase 1, durante el V milenio a.C, vendría marcada por la creación de hasta tres posibles líneas o barras de estelas monumentales, constatadas en las excavaciones arqueológicas por la presencia de fosas de cimentación y de una estela integrada en la tumba de corredor posterior. Por su parte, la Fase 2 supondría la caída de estas estelas neolíticas. Los datos arqueológicos (líneas de fractura, disposición de los fragmentos del Grand Menhir...) apuntan a una caída accidental y consecutiva, que invita a plantear la hipótesis de un seísmo como causa más factible. Las fosas que habrían quedado vacías se rellenan de sedimento correspondiente a ocupaciones del Castellic, mientras que los ortostatos conservados se extrajeron para ser reutilizados en la construcción de los monumentos de Table des Marchands o Er Gran. La Fase 3 corresponde a la erección de la tumba de corredor de Table des Marchands y de su túmulo, que sufrió una ampliación posterior. La Fase 4 viene definida por la ruina y destrucción del monumento a lo largo de finales del IV milenio a.C. y principios del III. En fases posteriores se constatan ciertas frecuentaciones del lugar durante la Edad del Bronce, época galorromana y siglos modernos. Finalmente, la Fase 5 correspondería a las excavaciones arqueológicas que se han ido desarrollando en el área desde el siglo XVIII.

Gavrinis, on the estuary of the river Vannes (Brittany, France), is known for the extraordinary abundance of engravings preserved on the monolithic wall pillars and capstone. Our objective is to re-qualify these representations using a new frame of reference, based on a new corpus of engraved signs, including their architectural context and position in the volume of the rock. Recording of the topographical, archaeological, petrographic and acoustic data of the cairn and the passage grave provides a representation of both architecture and engraved and painted signs

On donne ici quelques reflexions sur l'exploitation de sel dès le Néolithique et sa valeur comme source de richesse et prestige. Sont analysés quelques exemples etnographiques et historiques d'obtention de ce produit, en les comparant avec quelques traces archéologiques dans différents lieux de l'Europe.

On donne ici des résultats récents sur les monuments mégalithiques du Morbihan (site de Lannec Er Gadouer), et quelques idées sur la monumentalité funéraire et le Néolithique des régiones atlantiques.

A rare type of pottery, found in four single graves under earthen mounds in the Carnac region of Brittany, consists of a circular, flat-based vessel with a near-vertical wall. On the basis of the equipment known from elsewhere in the world, it is possible that the morphology of these dishes is related to processes involved in the production of salt. To help us in exploring their function, we chose to compare these vessels with another enigmatic class of pottery from the Cyclades – the socalled ‘frying pans’ – which seems to have functioned in a similar way, as an object-sign, and has been found in a maritime milieu and in high-status contexts.

En la actualidad, para explicar el proceso de neolitización de la fachada atlántica francesa, los investigadores han de elegir entre dos modelos que oponen las esferas meridionales y septentrionales del Neolítico Antiguo de la Europa occidental. Las discusiones son tanto más vivas cuando más dispersas y frágiles son los datos arqueológicos. En este artículo pasaremos revista a los conjuntos menos males...

RÉSUMÉ: L'article se propose d'actualiser la séquence périodique des différents «groupes culturels» composant le Néolithique récent/final de la façade atlantique de la France. On rappellera quelques définitions des ensembles céramiques sur lesquels se fonde la périodisation, entre Normandie et Aquitaine, de 4700 à 4200 BP.RESUMEN: El artículo trata de actualizar la secuencia periódica de los diferentes «grupos culturales» que constituyen el Neolítico reciente/final de la fachada atlántica de Francia. Se recordarán algunas definiciones de los conjuntos cerámicos utilizados para construir la periodización presentada; grupos todos ellos localizados entre Normandia y Aquitania, desde el 4700 al 4200 BP.

In the last few decades, there has been a great deal of interest in the stone used as building material in megalithic monuments. Several studies have been carried out on the location of quarries and on the monumental and symbolic role of stones in various types of architecture (O'Sullivan 1996; 2006; Cooney 2000, 135-8). However, very few works exist on the relationship between the parietal art of these monuments and the materials that carry them (Shee 1973, 164; O'Sullivan 1997, 28). This is in contrast to work on the Upper Palaeolithic, where there have been several studies exploring the links between paintings and the relief of caves (Clottes 1996). In the case of Neolithic monumental art there are many questions left unanswered; is the stone only a support for the carved motifs? Is its role only practical, without significance? Or did it have a more developed function related to the symbolism of the carvings? In this article, we would like to show through different examples in Ireland and Brittany that the stone did have a role in Neolithic monumental art. Different case studies show that there are relationships between carvings and stone texture, stone colour and stone relief. After the presentation of these case studies we would like to show how three-dimensional modelling can be a relevant tool for this kind of archaeological question.

We are going to demonstrate that it is possible to invest an Armorican stele of the 5th millennium with an order of meanings in the same way as a language or a kinship system; in other words, a set of operations destined to ensure, between individuals and groups, a certain type of communication. But such demands necessitate modifying established patterns, because none agree on the idea that we have conceived of a peaceful passage to agriculture and animal husbandry on the Atlantic façade of Europe. Each fundamental sign on these standing stones will here be reconsidered, and their ‘syntax’ analysed. However, we have no innocence about the subject: as soon as we display the strange desire to question these engravings, we ‘participate’ in an analogical spell attributed to a distant image, we fall as well into those exegetic attempts which pretend to obey to a cultural project wherein it appears they interpret the symbolism but that, finally, tend to renew it, because any key to symbols is part of their symbolism. And even in an oneiric or fairy world, power does not derive from gratuitousness, but from coherence.