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Carnac stones

Set of megalithic sites in Brittany, France

  • 14 min read
  • 7 chapters

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Although the stones date from 4500–3300 BC, modern beliefs associated them with first century AD Roman and later Christian occupations. A Christian legend associated with the stones held that they were pagan soldiers in pursuit of Pope Cornelius when he turned them to stone. Brittany has its own local versions of the Arthurian cycle. Local tradition similarly claims that the reason they stand in such perfectly straight lines is that they are a Roman legion turned to stone by Merlin the Wizard.

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.

According to Neil Oliver's BBC documentary A History of Ancient Britain, the alignments were built by hunter-gatherer people ("These weren't erected by Neolithic farmers, but by Mesolithic hunters"). That would place them in a different category from Stonehenge in England, which has been claimed to be the work of Early European Farmers. The question of which people Carnac stones are to be attributed to is still debated.

Alignments

There are three major groups of stone rows – Ménec, Kermario and Kerlescan. They may have once formed a single group but have been split up as stones were removed for other purposes. Together they trace a contour line, around 20 meters above sea level.

The standing stones are made of weathered granite from local outcroppings that once extensively covered the area.

Ménec alignments

Eleven converging rows of menhirs stretching for 1,165 by 100 metres (3,822 by 328 feet). There are 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 4 metres (13 feet) high, are at the wider, western end; the stones then become as small as 0.6 metres (2 feet 0 inches) high along the length of the alignment before growing in height again toward the extreme eastern end.

Kermario alignment

This fan-like layout recurs a little further along to the east in the Kermario (House of the Dead) alignment. It consists of 1029 stones in ten columns, about 1,300 m (4,300 ft) 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 (2,600 ft), ranging in height from 80 cm (2 ft 7 in) to 4 m (13 ft). 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.

Petit-Ménec alignments

A much smaller group, further east again of Kerlescan, falling within the commune of La Trinité-sur-Mer. These are now set in woods, and most are covered with moss and ivy.

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