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De Newgrange en Irlande à Hal Saflieni à Malte ou Gavrinis en Bretagne, les tombeaux néolithiques sont connus pour leur caractère monumental. Loin d’être de simples “contenants” mortuaires, destinés uniquement à recueillir les restes corporels des défunts, ces tombes sont des architectures complexes et multiples, conçues pour accueillir des rites funéraires élaborés, impliquant plusieurs acteurs, plusieurs temps et plusieurs espaces cérémoniels. Pour l’archéologue, l’organisation spatiale de ces architectures et de leurs contenants constitue un véritable fil conducteur permettant de comprendre les pratiques funéraires et les croyances des sociétés néolithiques. Combinant études récentes et synthèses régionales, cet ouvrage explore la configuration de l’architecture de ces tombes (chambres mégalithiques, hypogées, coffres sous tumulus ou cairns, tertres, etc.), l’organisation spatiale des dépôts funéraires et des décors pariétaux, et les relations entre les tombes et leur espace topographique naturel (le paysage). Ce tour d’horizon européen expose ainsi les différentes manières dont les sociétés néolithiques concevaient, construisaient et utilisaient l’espace des morts en Europe de 5000 à 2000 avant J.-C. Mais il offre également des pistes permettant d’interpréter ces choix. From Newgrange in Ireland to Hal Saflieni in Malta or Gavrinis in Brittany, Neolithic tombs are well known for their monumental nature. Far from being simple mortuary “containers”, only aimed at receiving dead bodies, these tombs are complex and multiple architectures that were designed to host elaborate burial rituals involving several actors and several ceremonial times and spaces. For archaeologists, the spatial organisation of these architectures and their contents is a thread to investigate and understand the burial practices and beliefs of Neolithic communities. Combining recent fieldworks and regional surveys, it explores the configuration of tombs architecture (megalithic chambered tombs, rock-cut tombs, cists under tumulus or cairns, barrows, etc.), the spatial organisation of bodies, grave goods and imagery, and the relationships between the tombs and their landscape setting. This European overview shows the different ways Neolithic societies thought, built and used the space of the dead in Europe from 5000 to 2000 BC. But it also offers and discusses ideas about the meaning of these spatial choices.

The presence of painted, carved or sculpted decorations in European funerary contexts makes megalithic art a basic reference in order to classify the use of burial areas. Complex graphic programmes of paintings, engravings and sculptures constituted an essential part of funerary rites. The burial models provided by the Iberian Peninsula are a great contribution to the study of funerary graphics. Moreover, their concurrent open air versions open unforeseen expectations for a re-evaluation of the whole of megalithic art in Europe. La présence de décorations peintes, taillées ou sculptées dans des contextes funéraires européens font de l'art mégalithique une référence de base pour classer l'utilisation des aires d'enterrement. Les programmes graphiques complexes de peintures, des gravures et des sculptures ont constitué une partie essentielle de rites funéraires. Les modèles d'enterrement fournis par la Péninsule Ibérique sont une grande contribution à l'étude des décors funéraires. De plus, leurs pendants simultanés en plein air ouvrent des perspectives inespérées pour une re-évaluation de tout l'art mégalithique en Europe. La presencia de decoraciones pintadas, grabadas o esculpidas en los contextos funerarios europeos, hace del conjunto del arte megalítico una referencia básica sobre las sistemáticas de uso de los espacios sepulcrales. Programas gráficos complejos de pinturas, grabados y esculturas constituyeron una parte fundamental del dispositivo ritual funerario. La aportación que ofrecen los modelos peninsulares al estudio de los programas gráficos funerarios y a las versiones al aire libre que lo acompañan, abre inéditas expectativas para nuevas lecturas del arte megalítico europeo en su conjunto.

Siega Verde was the third open-air rock art site to be discovered in the Iberian Peninsula, even before Côa and the controversy that followed that discovery. Its practicable size and the study carried out without any publicity allowed the analysis of a new reality that would change the interpretation of Palaeolithic art. From the start of the research, stylistic criteria were used to date the art in the absence of archaeological excavations. Although this has often been criticized, it meant that Siega Verde and Côa could be dated from Leroi-Gourhan’s Style II onwards. Excavations at Fariseu, a site belonging to Côa in Portugal, have proved that hypothesis archaeologically, as well as supporting the applicability of Leroi-Gourhan’s styles. Siega Verde is a good representative of Palaeolithic art in the open, on rocks by a river-bank or on prominent hills, but it is not the only form that can be catalogued as open-air rock art, because there are intermediate forms. These are found in cave entrances and in rock-shelters all over the Iberian Peninsula, especially in areas where little evidence of Palaeolithic art used to be known, such as on the southern Mediterranean coast and in Andalusia. This site possesses an exterior Upper Palaeolithic art ensemble, similar to the art found inside caves and of the same age, but in a different location. Formal relationships are usual inside and outside the caves and in both cases they represent a communicative code that did not need the dark and mystery to be expressed.

International audience

International audience; Remains of pictorial decorations in a series of six representative megalithic monuments of Brittany (France) and two French stelae have been studied by micro-Raman spectroscopy for the first time. Fungal colonies on the painted orthostats made it difficult to obtain in situ Raman spectra of the paint components. Nevertheless, paint micro-specimens studied in the laboratory by micro-Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electronic microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy have made possible to characterise the materials present. The minerals α-quartz, albite, microcline, muscovite, phlogopite, celadonite, beryl and anatase have been identified in the granitic rocks supporting the paintings, while dolomite and calcite are dominant in the calcareous rocky substrata. Haematite is the main component of the red pictographs, whereas amorphous carbon and manganese oxides/oxihydroxides have been used in the black ones. Calcite, gypsum and amorphous carbon have been detected as additional components of the paint in some cases. Contamination with modern tracing materials (polystyrene and ε-copper-phthalocyanine blue) has been detected in several cases. The presence of pigments as decorative elements in megalithic monuments of Western France and its possible relation with those of the Iberian Peninsula create interesting expectations for the knowledge of the European megalithic culture.

L’homme du troisième millénaire doit faire un effort considérable pour analyser des sociétés où les moyens de communication n’ont rien à voir avec ceux dont il dispose à ce jour. Les articles regroupés ici traitent de ces communications qui ont prolongé la parole et la mémoire dans la majorité de la population mondiale jusqu’à une date récente. Les grottes ornées, les mégalithes, les mises en scène funéraires, les décors soignés ou les simples grafitti sur des objets de la vie courante, sont autant de messages difficiles à décrypter aujourd’hui. Les quelques exemples retenus illustrent les choix de chaque culture, avec leurs représentations symboliques, réalistes ou idéalisées dont la forme reste très attachée à la culture orale.

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., La técnica ha venido estableciéndose en el arte megalítico europeo como una categoría cultural. Solo la Península Ibérica disponía de dólmenes pintados. Pero algunos datos dispersos en el resto del continente, junto con los análisis que se aportan procedentes de la cámara H del túmulo de Barnenez, certifican que la pintura formó parte de los programas gráfi cos de los más clásicos conjuntos atlánticos, como es el bretón. Se abre un panorama muy enriquecedor de nuevas lecturas para un arte megalítico europeo en el que habrá de contemplarse la metodología pertinente para la detección de pinturas y su interpretación en los discursos funerarios.