Carnac

From Free net encyclopedia

For other uses, see Carnac (disambiguation).

Carnac is a village and commune beside the Gulf of Morbihan on the south coast of Brittany (Template:Coor dm) and part of the Morbihan département of northwestern France. Its inhabitants are called Carnacois.

1 Neighboring communes
2 Standing stones
3 Tumulus
4 External links

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Neighboring communes

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Standing stones

Carnac is famous as the site of more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones. The stones were hewn from local rock and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany. 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).

There are several discrete groups of stone rows at Carnac. The Menec alignments are twelve converging rows of menhirs stretching for more than a kilometre, with what Alexander Thom considered to be the remains of stone circles at either 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.

This fan-like layout recurs a little further along to the east in the Kermario alignment. Other smaller alignments are also found in the area, including the Kerlescan and the Petit Menec.

The Carnac stones were erected during the Neolithic period which lasted from around 4500 BC until 2000 BC. The precise date of the stones is difficult to ascertain as little dateable material has been found beneath them, but c.3300 BC is commonly attributed to the site's main phase of activity. One interpretation of the site is that successive generations visited the site to erect a stone in honour of their ancestors.

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Tumulus

The tumulus of Saint-Michel was constructed between 5000BC and 3400BC.

At the base it is 125m by 60m, and is 12m high. It required 35000m³ of stone and earth. Its function was the same as that of the pyramids of Egypt: a tomb for the members of the ruling class. It contained various funerary objects, with majority found currently held in the museum of the Prehistory of Carnac.

A chapel was built on top in 1663 but was destroyed in 1923. The current building is an identical reconstruction, built in 1926.

Image:Tumulus carnac.jpg

Image:Tumulus carnac bis.jpg

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