The Saint-Michel tumulus is a megalithic

grave mound 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 ...

, located east of

Carnac Carnac (; br, italic=no, Karnag, ) is a commune beside the Gulf of Morbihan on the south coast of Brittany in the Morbihan department in north-western France. Its inhabitants are called ''Carnacois'' in French. Carnac is renowned for the C ...

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 ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is the largest grave mound in continental Europe.

History

View of of the Carnac stone lines and the tumulus St Michel, c 1862, Musée de Préhistoire, Carnac

The tumulus was built during the fifth millennium BC. It consists of a mound of earth and stones long, wide and high. Explored in 1862, researchers found there a central vault containing fairly prestigious funerary furniture: axes,

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

s, flint tools and

sillimanite Sillimanite is an aluminosilicate mineral with the chemical formula Al2SiO5. Sillimanite is named after the American chemist Benjamin Silliman (1779–1864). It was first described in 1824 for an occurrence in Chester, Connecticut. Occurrence S ...

. It has been classified as a ''"

Monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

"'' (

National heritage site A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage registe ...

) since 1889. Around 1900, the archaeologist again excavated the Saint-Michel tumulus and discovered a second dolmen and fifteen small stone chests, thus revealing the complexity of this monument.

Gallery

File:056 Musée préhistoire Carnac.jpg File:Plan of the tumulus St Michel, made in 1900-1906, Musée de Préhistoire, Carnac.jpg File:Tumulus-dolmen du Mont-Saint-Michel - Vue d'ensemble - Carnac - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APMH00004948.jpg File:Tumulus carnac bis.jpg File:M 1 Tumulus St. Michel C.jpg File:Carnac Brittany (19028923).jpeg File:132 Plan du tumulus Saint-Michel.JPG, Saint-Michel tumulus plan by File:Tumulus Saint-Michel (3).jpg, Excavation entrance to the tumulus File:Display of finds from the Tumulus Saint-Michel, Musée de Préhistoire, Carnac, 2019-09-05.jpg, Finds from the Saint-Michel tumulus File:Polished stone axes made from alpine rocks, Musée de Préhistoire, Carnac, 2019-09-05.jpg, Jade axes from the tumulus File:Callais necklace, 99+9.jpg, Callais necklace from the tumulus File:Pieces of stone axes, Musée de Préhistoire, Carnac, 2019-09-05 txt.jpg, Broken stone axes from the tumulus

References

Archaeological sites in Brittany Megalithic monuments in Brittany Buildings and structures in Morbihan Geography of Brittany Tourist attractions in Morbihan Monuments historiques of Morbihan Tumuli in France Buildings and structures completed in the 5th millennium BC {{Morbihan-geo-stub