Usually, an item of heritage is classified according to its purpose or use. Thus, for example, a fortification will be part of the military heritage. A chapel or a calvary in the religious heritage. A washhouse in the civil heritage, etc...
The archaeological heritage, on the other hand, can cover all these types of elements and many others. In fact, its elements differ only on the basis of their seniority.
We will therefore divide the archaeological heritage into two parts:
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The prehistoric heritage represented in the Pays d'Iroise by the Neolithic megaliths: tumuli, cairns, dolmens and menhirs.
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The Celtic heritage goes back to the time of independent Gaul : steles, small monuments that were mostly Christianized later.
Until its closure in 2020, there was a Museum of Prehistory, in Penmarc'h, in the south of Finistère.
Museum of Prehistory
Many objects coming from the Pays d'Iroise were exposed there. A funerary chest of the Bronze Age discovered in Le Conquet was reconstituted there. The bronze sword found in the bed of the Aber Ildut at Brélès was visible in a display case. One could also see there a menhir engraved coming from the peninsula of Kermorvan.
It was an important cultural stop not to be missed.
Closed for not complying with the new security rules, the building is still surrounded by a quantity of megaliths coming from different regions of the department and moved there in order to save them because they were threatened of destruction.
Prehistory enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting the reopening of this exceptional museum for its rich collections.
Yannick Loukianoff
A SMALL GAME
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