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The Ménec alignments, view 2, Carnac, Morbihan, Die Bretagne (Nickname: Christophe) |
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The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites around the French village of Carnac, in Brittany, consisting of alignments, dolmens, tumuluses and single menhirs. The more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were hewn from local rock and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany, and are the largest such collection in the world. Local tradition claims that the reason they stand in such perfectly straight lines is that they are a Roman legion turned to stone by Merlin — Brittany has its own local versions of the Arthurian cycle. Most of the stones are within the French commune of Carnac, but some to the east are within La Trinité-sur-Mer.
The stones were erected at some stage during the Neolithic period, probably around 3300 BC, but some may date to as old as 4500 BC.
In recent centuries, many of the sites have been neglected, with reports of dolmens being used as sheep shelters, chicken sheds or even ovens. Even more commonly, stones have been removed to make way for roads, or as building materials. The continuing management of the sites remains a controversial topic.
There are three major groups of stone rows — Menec, Kermario and Kerlescan — which may have once formed a single group, but have been split up as stones were removed for other purposes.
Menec alignments :
Eleven converging rows of menhirs stretching for 1,165 metres, by 100 metres wide. There is what Alexander Thom considered to be the remains of stone circles at either end. According to the tourist office there is a 'cromlech containing 71 stone blocks' at the western end and a very ruined cromlech at the eastern end. The largest stones, around four metres high, are at the wider, western end; the stones then become as small as 0.6 metres high along the length of the alignment before growing in height again toward the extreme eastern end.
Kermario (house of the dead) alignment :
This fan-like layout recurs a little further along to the east in the Kermario alignment. It consists of 1029 stones in ten columns, about 1,300 metres in length. A stone circle to the east end, where the stones are shorter, was revealed by aerial photography.
Kerlescan alignments :
A smaller group of 555 stones, further to the east of the other two sites. It is composed of 13 lines with a total length of about 800 metres, ranging in height from 80 cm to 4 metres. At the extreme west, where the stones are tallest, there is a stone circle which has 39 stones. There may also be another stone circle to the north.
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