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TOPIC: Menhirs in Brittany

Blobrana

L

Posts: 131433

Date: Jun 13 18:57 2009

Carnac Event	Permalink

18th - 22nd June 2009: Stones, snakes and sun A unique chance to approach the mysterious megaliths of Carnac. Talks, sunrise and sunset observations, visits on foot, by boat and by helicopter, workshops, exhibitions, films, story telling, music. The building of the megalithic monuments in Carnac started over 7000 years ago. Thousands of tons of stones were extracted, transported and erected in alignments, circles, cairns and tumulus. Read more __________________

Blobrana

L

Posts: 131433

Date: Feb 13 23:09 2008

Carnac	Permalink

The rows of ancient standing stones stretch more than 900 metres amid the rolling countryside of southern Brittany. Jutting out of the ground in a variety of bizarre shapes - some look like whale heads covered with moss and lichen, others like abstract sculptures carved by the wind and rain over the millennia - the nearly 1,100 stones form an extraordinary panorama. Visitors are left to wander up and down the rows of the Menec Alignments just north of the village of Carnac and ponder big questions: who put these stones here, how did they manage to do it (the stones stand up to 3 1/2 metres tall and weigh several tonnes) and, most puzzling of all, why did they go to all the trouble? Brittany, in the northwest corner of France, has some of Europe's most important prehistoric monuments, ranging from the alignments of Carnac to massive single stones and tombs decorated with elaborate carvings. Read more __________________

Blobrana

L

Posts: 131433

Date: Jul 31 20:37 2006

Menhirs in Brittany	Permalink

A spectacular discovery of Stone Age menhirs in Brittany could unlock the code to one of the most puzzling chapters of human development, and transform our knowledge of mankind's early history Some months ago builders were clearing a piece of wasteland in southern Brittany when they struck an enormous hunk of granite. The developer was no historian but he knew instantly what the obstacle must be: the remains of a buried "menhir" or neolithic standing stone. He ordered a bulldozer to shove the stone underground again before any passing busybody spotted it. He did not want the work on his six seaside bungalows to be halted for a prolonged archaeological dig. Brittany, he probably reasoned, is crammed with old stones. At Carnac - the largest neolithic site in the world, just down the road - there is a linear forest of 3,000 menhirs in the space of four kilometres. Was that not enough ancient monuments to satisfy the historians, the tourists and the Ministry of Culture in Paris? Too late. A passing busy-body had noticed the unearthed menhir. Work on the bungalows was halted. An archaeological dig was ordered. Read more __________________

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