Hotié De Viviane
Location
This megalithic construction is located south-west of the Paimpont forest. 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 191 metres (627 ft).
Megalithic architecture
This is one of the rare funerary coffers under a tumulus 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, 0.8 metres (2.6 ft) to 1.6 metres (5.2 ft) long, driven diagonally at an angle of 45° about 15 centimetres (6 in) into the ground. The actual coffer is surrounded by 12 red schist slabs delimiting a funerary chamber 2.9 metres (9.5 ft) long by 1.5 to 1.6 metres (4.9 to 5.2 ft) wide and not exceeding 1.4 metres (4.6 ft) high. It must have been covered by other slabs which have since disappeared, having been destroyed by treasure hunters.
The dead were probably deposited there on the south side, passing through a lower slab. The funerary furniture found consisted of polished dolerite axes, flints, jewellery pendants, coarse late Neolithic ceramics, millstones, hammerstones, and grinding wheels. The whole construction has been dated between 3500 and 2500 BC. Carbon-14 dating 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 Blanchard de La Musse . This monument's connection with Viviane was later affirmed by Félix Bellamy 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 Merlin bewitched."
Footnotes
- ^ Millon, A. (1923). "Les Mégalithes et les légendes". Bulletin et mémoires de la Société archéologique du département d'Ille-et-Vilaine (in French). 50: 58. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
- ^ Base Mérimée: Mégalithe, dit Tombeau des Druides, puis l'Hotié ou la maison de Vivianne, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
- ^ Briard 1990, p. 14.
- ^ Markale 1996, p. 137.
- ^ Briard 1997, p. 103.
- ^ Markale 1996, p. 142.
- ^ Briard 1990, p. 15.
- ^ Briard et al. 1989, passim.
- ^ Briard, Langouët & Onnée 2004, p. 72.
- ^ Briard et al. 1989, p. 398.
- ^ Le Roux 1983, p. 309.
- ^ Briard et al. 1989, pp. 399, 402.
- ^ Briard 1997, pp. 103–104.
- ^ Chauou, Amaury (2009). Le roi Arthur (in French). Paris: Seuil. p. 25. ISBN 9782020840019. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- ^ Marcel, Calvez (October 2010). Druides, fées et chevaliers dans la forêt de Brocéliande: De l'invention de la topographie légendaire de la forêt de Paimpont à ses recompositions contemporaines (PDF). Festival international de géographie. Programme scientifique, Oct 2010, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France (in French). p. 6. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- ^ "L'Hotié de Viviane". Encyclopédie de Brocéliande (in French). Retrieved 2 April 2022.
References
- Briard, Jacques (1990). Dolmens et menhirs de Bretagne (in French). Paris: Éditions Jean-Paul Gisserot. ISBN 9782877470421. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
- Briard, Jacques (1997). Les mégalithes, ésotérisme et réalité (in French). Paris: Éditions Jean-Paul Gisserot. ISBN 9782877472609. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
- Briard, J.; Gebhardt, A.; Marguerie, D.; Querre, G. (1989). "Archéologie et environnement en forêt de Broceliande, un exemple d'études pluridisciplinaires". Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française (in French). 86 (10): 397–403. doi:10.3406/bspf.1989.9899. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- Briard, Jacques; Langouët, Loïc; Onnée, Yvan (2004). Les Mégalithes du département d'Ille-et-Vilaine (in French). Rennes: Institut culturel de Bretagne & Centre régional d'archéologie d'Alet. ISBN 9782868220929. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- Le Roux, C. T. (1983). "Circonscription de Bretagne". Gallia préhistoire (in French). 26 (2): 309. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- Markale, Jean (1996). Guide spirituel de la forêt de Brocéliande (in French). Monaco: Éditions du Rocher. ISBN 9782268022529. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
External links
- Media related to Hotié de Viviane at Wikimedia Commons