Hotié de Viviane
Hotié, Hostié or Maison de Viviane, also known as Tombeau des Druides is a megalithic tomb in Paimpont, Ille-et-Vilaine, in Brittany. The Hotié de Viviane is one of the prehistoric monuments in the Forest of Brocéliande cursorily described in the 19th century, but more recently, following the fires that have periodically devastated the forest, rediscovered and excavated by local groups. Legend makes it the home of the fairy Viviane, where she held the enchanter Merlin imprisoned. Another legend equates it with the esplumoir Merlin. When the location of the Val sans retour, a place figuring in medieval Arthurian literature, was identified with the Val de Rauco in the 19th century, the megalithic site near the Gurvant valley took the name of Hotié de Viviane. Hotié de Viviane is also sometimes identified as Tombeau 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.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 from 1982-1983. The tumulus that covered the coffer was made up of small stones held in place by slabs, to long, driven diagonally at an angle of 45° about into the ground. The actual coffer is surrounded by 12 red schist slabs delimiting a funerary chamber long by wide and not exceeding 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 3355 and 2890 BC.