Paintings in Atlantic Megalithic Art: Barnenez

Abstract

Pinturas en el arte megalítico atlántico: Barnenez ABSTRACT (1) (2) (3)The use of technique is usually considered in European megalithic art as an indicator of the level of culture sophistication attained by a particular community. Traditionally, it was considered that only the Iberian Peninsula is home to painted dolmens. The analysis of chamber H of the Barnenez tumulus together with some information scattered over the continent, prove that painting was part of the graphic programs in the most archetypal Atlantic sites, such as Brittany. A highly rewarding panorama appears for European megalithic art with potential new readings. The most suitable method of detecting paintings and interpreting them in funerary contexts must be reviewed. RESUMEN

Raman microscopy of prehistoric paintings in French megalithic monuments

“…The chosen megaliths are the most representative within the classic sequence of Brittany: chambers A and H from Barnenez tumulus (Plouezoc'h, Finistère), the gallery of Goërem (Gâvres, Morbihan), the monuments from Dissignac (Saint‐Nazaire, Loire‐Atlantique) or the dolmens integrated inside the tumulus of Mont‐Saint‐Michel (Carnac, Morbihan) . Another group of monuments has been chosen because of their current preservation state: Mané Rutual (Locmariaquer, Morbihan) and Mané Kerioned B (Carnac, Morbihan).…”

Polychrome Pottery from the Later Neolithic of the Isle of Man

“…Recent work in western France shows that painted designs were applied to pottery (Ard 2013;D'Anna et al 2008) and the orthostats of chambered tombs (Ramírez et al 2012) here too from the fourth millennium bc onwards, critical links in the chain of connections joining coastal communities along Europe's Atlantic coast in this period.…”

“…Selective placement of coloured stones in megalithic monuments of the Neolithic and early Bronze Age has been investigated on the island of Arran (Jones 1999) and at Clava (Bradley 2000, 216) in Scotland, in Mecklenburg, Germany (Darvill 2013), and in southern Scandinavia (Tilley 1996). The application of red paint to the walls of megalithic monuments in western Iberia has long been recognized as a component of the passage grave art (Shee Twohig 1981, 32-4) but recent studies show similar traditions extended eastwards and northwards to the passage graves of Brittany (Ramírez et al 2012) and Germany (Müller 1996). Colour was clearly important to these communities and in parts of northwest Europe there is evidence that colour was being applied to pottery as well (D'Anna et al 2008).…”

Stepping stones: art and community on prehistoric Guernsey, Channel Islands

“…In particular, these included the construction of megalithic tombs and structures and Á in many instances Á the use of art to decorate these structures (see Bueno Ramírez and de Balbín Behrman 2002;Bueno Ramírez et al 2012;Midgley 2008;Scarre 2011;Shee Twohig 1981). It has been argued that the decorated orthostats (large stone panels that make up the architecture in megalithic constructions) found in the megalithic tombs of northwestern France may have been standing menhirs (worked or unworked individual stones set into the landscape) prior to their inclusion in the structures (L'Helgouac'h 1997; Robin 2009;Scarre 2008).…”