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CARNAC
Lines of Time
Carnac, in southern Brittany, is thought to have been worked in 3,000 B.C. It consists not only of the 3000 odd standing stones known as The Alignments, as seen in figure 1, but also menhirs, tumulii, and dolmens, the most famous being the Dolmen at Cruco, which uses as its 'roof' a stone block weighing in excess of 40 tons, as seen in figure 2. There are others within this size range, such as those at La Roche aux Fées, Ille-et-Vilane, as seen in figure 3.
Figure 2: The Dolmen at Cruco, with it's 'roof' weighing over 40 tons.
Figure 3: Dolmen from La Roche aux Fées. This 'roof' weighs over 40 tons.
Figure 4: Example of a menhir at Carnac. Click for larger image (386 kb).
Figure 1: The 3000 stones comprising The Alignments in Carnac, southern Brittany.
By far the most impressive feat of engineering present at this site is Le Grand Menhir Brisée, the largest menhir in the world, now broken in four pieces. Once standing it would have been over 20 metres high. It weighed in excess of 350 tons, and amazingly, was transported at least 3 kilometres. Archaeologists believe that shortly after being erected it was torn down and broken in pieces, intended to serve as a capstone for dolmens. Whoever erected it should have been proud of their skill in not only erecting it, but transporting to all that way. So why tear it down and break it up? One could conclude that whosoever broke it up was not the same as those that erected it.
Figures 5 and 6: Some of huge stones, standing in Carnac literally at each corner: Left the stones standing in front of the alignments of St. Barbe (3 and 5 metres high)... and right, a very "mystical" stone near the alignments of Kerzerho (4 metres high), truly one of the biggest stones ever moved.
Figure 7: The Brise menhir.
Figure 8: The Brise menhir.
Figure 9: The Brise menhir.
Even with modern day machinery man would have a very difficult time moving these megalithic menhirs. So how did the people of 3,000 B.C. move them, stand them up, or place them atop others to form a Dolmen? Surely people who hadn't even discovered iron couldn't have moved these monsters? Perhaps there is more to the story of the people from 3,000 B.C. than is currently being portrayed.
There are literally hundreds of monoliths, dolmens, tumulii, or stone alignments littered across Brittany, as can be seen on this map (215 kb), far too many to list here; this would be beyond the purpose of this site. The origins of this area, the people that designed and constructed the site, and the methods they used which at present modern man obviously lack, these are the areas of interest regarding these pages.