CARNAC is by far the most famous megalithic ensemble in Brittany and one of only two (along with Stonehenge) in the world. Brittany, and even France, you will not surprise with a menhir, but Karnak amazes the imagination with the inconceivable concentration of these monuments in a relatively small area.
Menhir
Menhir is a stone pillar vertically dug into the ground. Their height varies from 0.80 meters to 20. Menhirs standing separately are usually the highest. The "record holder" was Men-er-Hroech (Fey Stone), from Locmariaquera (Morbihan), which was destroyed around 1727. The largest fragment of it was 12 meters, and in general, it reached 20 meters in height, with an approximate weight of 350 tons. Currently, all the largest menhirs in France are located in Brittany:
- menhir to Kerloas (Finistere) - 12 m.
- menhir to Kaelonan (Cote d'Armor) - 11.20 m.
- menhir in Pergal (Cote d'Armor) - 10.30 m.
Initially, there were about 10,000 (!) Monuments of various sizes in the Karnak complex. Nowadays there are about 3,000 of them left. This complex of megaliths (mainly cromlechs and menhirs) of the late Neolithic - early Bronze Age (late third - second millennium BC) includes 3 megalithic systems:
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Menek is the western part of the Karnak complex. It includes 1,099 menhirs in eleven lines, about 1200 meters long.
Kermario - about 1,000 menhirs in ten lines 1 km long. In the southwestern part, the ensemble is complemented by a dolmen.
Kerlescan - 555 menhirs in thirteen lines, the length of which is 280 meters. In the west, these lines are preceded by a cromlech of 39 stones. The highest height of the largest menhir in Kerlescan is 6.5 meters.
Dolmens
Dolmens are usually “boxes” made of stone slabs, to which sometimes long or short galleries are attached. They were collective burial chambers, as evidenced by the remains of bones and votive treasures (ceramics, jewelry, axes made of polished stone).
By 5,000 BC, sites located at Hoedic Island in Morbihan show the existence of small human groups living primarily by hunting, fishing and gathering shellfish. These human groups buried their dead, in some cases resorting to special rituals. The deceased was supplied on the way not only with products made of stone and bone, ornaments made of shells, but was also crowned with something like a "crown" of deer antlers. During this era, called the Mesolithic, the sea level was approximately 20 meters below the present day. Starting from about 4,500 years BC, the first megaliths appear in Karnak (which was observed by that time in other areas of present Brittany).
Hypotheses
The purpose of the menhirs, which are not tombstones, remains a mystery. Due to the lack of instructions for use left by the builders for future generations, archaeologists are cautiously manipulating several hypotheses. These hypotheses, which are not mutually exclusive, vary in each specific case and depend on a variety of factors: isolated menhirs or not; rows of stones are composed of one row or several, more or less parallel; menhirs oriented in a readable way, etc. Some may mark territory, point to graves, or belong to the cult of the waters.
But the hypothesis most often expressed relates to several large rows of stones oriented between east and west. There is an assumption that these are the attributes of a solar-lunar cult, coupled with agricultural methods and astronomical observations, and gathering around themselves large crowds of people, for example, during the winter and summer solstice. “The direction of some blocks according to privileged directions is amenable to analysis, emphasizes Michel Le Goffe, a Breton archaeologist, and when cases repeat themselves, sometimes in a clearly traceable system, one can rightfully think that this is not accidental. This is almost accurate in many cases, as at Saint-Just and at Carnac. But doubts will always exist, due to the lack of direct evidence. Archaeological finds among the rows of stones are really very hazy,some pottery and worked flints were found, but the remains of ritual fires dating from the same time as the construction of the megaliths suggest that they were outside the area of residence."