14 DAY TRIAL // On the southern part of the French Brittany, near the town of Carnac (Karnag) and the village of Locmariaquer, very close to the Gulf of Morbihan, the most expensive Neolithic (New Stone Age) menhirs in the world are to be found. "Menhir" comes from the Celtic words "maen" (stone) and "hir" (long).
These constructions were built 6,000 to 4,500 years ago, a time when European life experienced dramatic changes. People were passing from the stage of hunters-gatherers to farmers. The population got settled and a series of technological processes boomed: weaving, tool processing, stone polishing and others. This is the time of the megalithic constructions, whose aim is still unknown. The most famous megalithic formation is, of course, the British Stonehenge, but similar structures were found from Ireland to Spain. For long, people thought these monuments were Celtic, fact now proven to be wrong: Celts entered the area 2,000 years after the construction of the latest menhirs. Carnac site is outstanding through the concentration of the monuments and their alignment.
Dolmens are funerary monuments. Sometimes, scientists encounter buried skeletons beneath, but disorganized digs in the past centuries and acid soils in other cases impeded the bones to get into the hand of the researchers. Dolmens at Carnac were made at the same time with the menhirs. They are made of large stones covered by a plate and having 2 components: the mortuary chamber and the access corridor. The corridor is very narrow to the exit point, widening towards the funerary chamber. In epochs following their construction, many subsequent populations entered into the dolmens. Romans used many dolmens as temples, fact proved by numerous god and goddess figurines, made of burnt clay and encountered in some dolmens.
Menhirs are planted into the soil, and their height varies between 0.8 and 2.2 m (2.6-7.3 ft). The largest menhir at Carnac, called the Giant of Manio, still stands and it is 6.5 m (21.6 ft) tall. Why did the pre-Celtic populations constructed the menhirs? Some try to point their very precise astronomic orientation, connected to other menhirs of Brittany, the central element being represented by the Great Menhir of Locmariaquer. Still, this does not follow any terrestrial or sky map. It can be considered that isolated menhirs could signal the presence of a nearby tomb. Menhirs of Carnac are placed in almost parallel lines, on three fields: Menec, Kermario and Kerlescan.
Menec Field is the westernmost alignment and has at each extremity an ovoid precinct, called "cromlech". The western precinct surrounds the medieval village. The 1,099 menhirs are distributed on 11 lines, each of 1,15 km (0.7 mi).
Kermario is stretched over more than 1,200 square meters and comprises 1,029 menhirs on 10 lines. In the southern part of these alignments, where they close, the Manio assembly is found, on a tumular hill. The assembly is made by a dolmen and a large menhir, which has snake shaped engravings.
Kerlescan is located near the village with the same name and comprises 555 menhirs, placed on 13 lines, each being 280 m (0.16 mi) long. The lines are preceded in the west by an Arch shaped enclosure, a cromlech made of 39 pieces.
One legend says that Saint Cornely, while going from Carnac to Auray, was chased by pagan soldiers. At 600 m (0.37 mi) off the village of Carnac, after ascending a hill, the saint saw an army aligned for battle in front of him. In that moment, all the soldiers were turned into stones. This is how the inhabitants of the area explain the presence of the megaliths!
