Hotié, Hostié or Maison de Viviane (English: House of Viviane), also known as Tombeau des Druides (English:

Druids A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

' Tomb) is a

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

ic tomb in

Paimpont Paimpont (; ; Gallo: ''Penpont'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. The name is a compound of Old Breton ''pen'' "head" and the Latin borrowing ''pont'' "bridge" and is first attested in the 9th ce ...

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.

, in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

. The Hotié de Viviane is one of the prehistoric monuments in the Forest of Brocéliande cursorily described in the 19th century, but more recently, following the fires that have periodically devastated the forest, rediscovered and excavated by local groups. Legend makes it the home of the fairy Viviane, where she held the enchanter

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

imprisoned. Another legend equates it with the

esplumoir Merlin The ''esplumoir Merlin'' is a place mentioned in the Arthurian legend (notably the ) in relation with the magician Merlin. Its nature remains uncertain, but it probably relates to a metamorphosis into a bird. It is presented as a hut, a tower or ...

. When the location of the Val sans retour, a place figuring in medieval Arthurian literature, was identified with the Val de Rauco in the 19th century, the megalithic site near the Gurvant valley took the name of Hotié de Viviane. Hotié de Viviane is also sometimes identified as Tombeau de Viviane (English: Tomb of Viviane).

Location

This megalithic construction is located south-west of the

Paimpont forest Paimpont Forest (french: Forêt de Paimpont, br, Koad Pempont), also known as Brocéliande Forest (french: Forêt de Brocéliande), is a temperate forest located around the village of Paimpont in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany, ...

. It is possible to reach it by passing through the village of Beauvais, heading towards the Rauco moor. It appears after the last houses of La Guette, overlooking the Val sans retour, on a hill at a height of approximately .

Megalithic architecture

This is one of the rare funerary coffers under a

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

in a region where tombs of the same period usually have covered passages. It was excavated in 1982–1983. The tumulus that covered the coffer was made up of small stones held in place by slabs, to long, driven diagonally at an angle of 45° about into the ground. The actual coffer is surrounded by 12 red

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

slabs delimiting a funerary chamber long by wide and not exceeding high. It must have been covered by other slabs which have since disappeared, having been destroyed by

treasure hunters Treasure hunter is the physical search for treasure. For example, treasure hunters try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with market value. This industry is generally fueled by the market for antiquities. The practice of treasur ...

. The dead were probably deposited there on the south side, passing through a lower slab. The funerary furniture found consisted of polished

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained ...

axes, flints, jewellery pendants, coarse late

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

ceramics,

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...

hammerstone In archaeology, a hammerstone is a hard cobble used to strike off lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone during the process of lithic reduction. The hammerstone is a rather universal stone tool which appeared early in most regions of the wo ...

s, and

grinding wheel Grinding wheels contains abrasive compounds for grinding and abrasive machining operations. Such wheels are also used in grinding machines. The wheels are generally made with composite material . This consists of coarse-particle aggregate press ...

s. The whole construction has been dated between 3500 and 2500 BC.

Carbon-14 dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

of charcoal found on site refined the estimate to between 3,355 and 2,890 BC.

Legend

Over time, the site's original name of ''Tombeau des druides'' was supplanted by that of ''Hotié de Viviane'' because this place was, according to legend, the refuge of the fairy Viviane. As with most of the legendary place-names of the forest of Paimpont, this one was first associated with Arthurian legend by the Celtomane and Romantic . This monument's connection with Viviane was later affirmed by in 1896: "It is said that it was there, on a hill above the Val sans Retour, amid woods and rocks, in his castle of stone, that Viviane held

bewitched."

Footnotes

References

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External links

* {{European Standing Stones 3rd-millennium BC architecture 4th-millennium BC architecture Locations associated with Arthurian legend Megalithic monuments in Brittany Merlin Tombs in France Tourist attractions in Ille-et-Vilaine Tumuli in France