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Carnac Standing Stones

Megalithic alignments & dolmens
Tumuli, menhirs & megaliths

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Ménec alignments: an arrangement of standing stones with stone circles at both ends
The Ménec alignments, one of the best known features of the Carnac stones, a dense cluster of megalithic sites along the southern coast of Brittany, in northwestern France. Image by Snjeschok. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What Are The Carnac Stones?

The standing stones at Carnac constitute the most extensive array of upright megaliths in the world.

Located near the southern coast of Brittany in northwest France, this extraordinary Stone Age site consists of more than 4,000 menhirs aligned in rows which stretch for 6.5 kilometres (4 miles).

In addition to these stone alignments, Carnac includes numerous tumuli (burial mounds), dolmens (stone tombs), and single menhirs, making it the densest concentration of megalithic architecture ever seen.

Carnac is also noted for its megalithic art, mostly in its passage tombs and dolmens. The engravings at the nearby Gavrinis passage tomb, for instance, are fully comparable with the complex rock art found at Knowth passage tomb, and other locations.

Who Erected The Carnac stones?

This remains a matter of debate: some experts maintain that Breton hunter-gatherers, rather than farmers and labourers, created the stone alignments.

If true, this would make Carnac quite different from Stonehenge, or the Newgrange Passage Tomb, which were both centres of Neolithic culture built by Neolithic farmers.

It's true that hunter-gatherer culture endured far longer in Europe than previously thought, surviving until about 4,000 BC, or perhaps a little later.

But, judging by the size and number of stones at Carnac, the site must have been operated by a large, prosperous, well-organized society.

After all, only a large farming community with plenty of livestock and crops, could have guaranteed the regular food supply and other resources needed to construct these megalithic displays.

When Were They Erected?

Most of the stones were erected around the middle of the fourth millennium BC. However, some date to about 4,500 BC, while a few - notably in the underground tombs, date to 5,000 BC or earlier.

See: World's Oldest Art.

Why Were They Erected?

Why were the stones collected and lined up? No one knows. All we can say, is that the quarrying, transporting and erecting of thousands of stones, plus the building of the tombs and mounds, must have taken a huge amount of work.

So - whatever the reason - it must have been important to the builders and the wider community, and it must have made Carnac an important centre of Stone Age culture in the region.

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Stone Alignments

Ménec

The Ménec alignments consist of eleven converging rows of standing stones occuping an area of 1,165 x 100 metres. Remains of stone circles (cromlechs) can be seen at either end.

The largest stones (about 4 metres tall) are at the wider, western end of the alignment. From here, the stones diminish in height before growing again towards the eastern end.

Kermario

The Kermario alignments run southwest to northeast for about 1000 metres. There are seven main lines, each of about 1000 stones, with a stone circle at the eastern end. The stones get smaller to the east.

Kerlescan

The Kerlescan alignments are found to the east of the above two sites. They run southwest to northeast, for about 800 metres, in 13 lines, each of about 500 stones. The stones vary in height from 80 cm to 4 metres.

At the western end there is a stone circle. As at Le Ménec and Kermario, the stones at the western end are larger than those to the east.

Petit-Ménec

The Petit-Ménec alignments located not in Carnac but in the adjacent commune of La Trinité-sur-Mer, have fallen into disrepair. Found in woods, they are largely covered with vegetation.

They used to consist of around 250-300 stones but many were taken to build a local village as well as the lighthouse on Belle-Île.

Kerzerho

Located about 8 kilometres northwest of Carnac, the Kerzerho alignments run northwest to southeast for about two kilometres in ten rows of about 1100 stones, plus an additional line of huge stones (known as The Giants of Kerzerho) at the western end.

Sainte-Barbe

The Sainte-Barbe alignments, about 6 km northwest of Carnac, consist of four rows. Unfortunately, most have been used to build houses.

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Tumuli

Tumuli are large man-made mounds raised over one or more passage tombs. The orthostats inside the passage and burial chamber are often decorated with megalithic carvings and may contain funerary artifacts.

The most important burial mounds at Carnac, which date to about 4,500 BC or earlier, are Saint-Michel, Tumiac and Mané-er-Hroëk, otherwise known as the 'Carnacéen tumuli'.

Each included a megalithic burial chamber for the burial of a single individual, together with numerous polished stone axeheads made of jadeitite (in ancient cultures, the axe represented the powers of divinity), stone amulets, and jewellery made from greeny-blue Spanish stones, or callaïs.

The elaborate nature of these burials, the size of the tumuli, and the precious funerary offerings, make it likely that these were the burials of elite individuals, or 'god kings'.

A similar background may explain the megalithic necropolis at Brú na Bóinne in Ireland (3,200 BC), and the opulent burials of the Varna culture in Bulgaria (4,500 BC).

Tumulus of Saint-Michel

Built between 5,000 and 3,400 BC, the mound is about 12 metres in height, 125 metres in length, and 50 metres wide. It contains 35,000 cubic metres earth and stone. The tomb was intended for the elite.

Archaeologists recovered some ancient art in the form of jade axeheads, a quantity of ancient pottery, several ornate stone tools and fifteen stone chests.

A chapel was first built on top of the tumulus in 1663. The present chapel is an identical version of the 1663 structure, erected in 1926.

Tumulus of Tumiac

The tumulus of Tumiac is situated at Arzon, in the Rhuys peninsula. Known as 'Caesar's mound' because legend has it that Julius Caesar used it during his campaign against the Veneti in 56 BC.

Built of clay, and dated to 4,790 BC, the mound is broadly circular in shape and stands 15 metres high with a diameter of 50 metres. Among the artifacts recovered from the burial chamber were a dozen jadeite axes and 250 callaïs beads.

Mané-er-Hroëk

The Tumulus of Mané-er-Hroëk (Tumulus du Ruyk) is located west of the village of Er-Hroueg, roughly about one kilometre northeast of the Pierres Plates dolmen.

This tumulus consists of a rectangular burial vault of 5 metres by 3 metres, covered by two roofing slabs, plus a mound of earth and stones about 8 metres tall, 100 metres long and 60 metres wide.

The tumulus rises to approximately 15m above sea level, or almost 8m above the natural ground. The current entrance, with a staircase, is a modern addition. An engraved but fractured stele stands at the entrance.

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Dolmens

A dolmen (also called a portal tomb) is a single-chamber tomb, enclosed by two or more upright megaliths supporting a large horizontal capstone.

Some dolmens are also covered by a circular mound of earth, or by an oblong mound.

The dolmens at Carnac were built with several large stones supporting a capstone, then covered with a mound. But in most cases, the mound has been eroded or moved, leaving only the massive stones. A large proportion are damaged, overgrown or in ruins.

Some of the dolmens at Carnac include:

Individual Menhirs

There are numerous individual standing stones scattered across the district. Many are associated with graves, for example the above mentioned menhir atop the mound of the Kercado dolmen. Others, like Le Géant and Le Grand Menhir Brisé are believed to aid in determining the positions of the sun and moon.

Megalithic Art at Carnac

As well as mobiliary art - jewellery, carved tools, and other decorated artifacts, as well as the occasional item of prehistoric sculpture - Carnac also has numerous examples of megalithic art.

The latter features mostly rock engravings, most notably those inside dolmens and tumuli.

The most common motifs include abstract signs and symbols, such as spirals, circles with projecting lines, serpentiforms, arcs, chevrons or open-angle signs, hook-shaped symbols or unciforms, plus images of the axe or axe-plough.

Excavation

The first thorough examination of Carnac was conducted in the 1860s by Scottish antiquary James Miln (1819–1881).

Later, Miln recruited a local youngster, Zacharie Le Rouzic (1864–1939), as his assistant.

Eventually, he published the results of his excavations results, Excavations at Carnac, in 1877 and 1881.

On his sudden death from typhoid in Edinburgh in 1881, Miln bequeathed all his archaeological notes and papers to the town of Carnac, where his brother Robert set up the James Miln Museum to house the artifacts.

In due course, Le Rouzic took over as head of the Museum and, despite being self-taught, became an internationally recognised authority on Breton megaliths. He too gifted his papers to the town, and the museum is now named Le Musée de Préhistoire James Miln – Zacharie le Rouzic in their memory.

The museum contains one of the world's largest collections of prehistoric exhibits, with over 6,600 Stone Age objects from 136 different sites.

Famous Sites of Megalithic Art

NEXT: Prehistoric Art Timeline.

References

(1) Wikipedia entry: Carnac Stones.
(2) "Refitting megaliths in western France". Mens, Emmanuel (2015). Antiquity. 82 (315): 25–36.
(3) "From Neolithic kings to the Staffordshire hoard. Hoards and aristocratic graves in the European Neolithic: the birth of a 'Barbarian' Europe? "Jeunesse, Christian (2017). In "The Neolithic of Europe." Bickle, Penny; Cummings, Vicki; Hofman, Daniela; Pollard, Joshua (eds.). Oxbow Books. pp.175–186. ISBN 978-1-78570-654-7.
(4) "Excavations at Carnac (Brittany), a record of archaeological researches (1877-81)." Douglas, Edinburgh, (2 Vols).

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