Carnac is a 5km long alignment of megalithes that looks to be well over 6,000 years old, but we know almost nothing about it!
I was recently very lucky to visit the impossibly massive site known as Carnac, on the West Coast of Brittany, France. An eery feeling crept over me, as I gazed down the nearly perfect row of stones, erectly like tombstones that stretched across fields and beyond the line of sight. I was infact, looking at the bare bones of a forgotten civilisation; a people and culture so old, we could only guess and speculate about who they were and what they stood for.
However, on my little adventure, I was plagued with a mysterious problem: both my cameras (Camcorder and digit stills) stopped working properly, so I am not able to share all my finds with you guys. But I did manage to snap a good few on my phone, which is surprisingly awesome quality.
Twelve rows of these stones stetched across the countryside, with some reportedly weighing up to 100 Tons. Carnac in general is typicall divided into 4 main sites:
Menec being the first... and the one I was not allowed to visit;
Kermario... the one I spent most of my time in;
Manio... the smallest, surrounded by forest;
Kerlescan, which clearly had remains of a stone circle at the end;
So what I am about to share is not so much an overview on the whole site, but more focusing on aspects which I felt have been overlooked. Please realise that this is my first visit to this site, and the weather was shite, so I did not have the best day to be looking for evidence to support my theory on what this site could possibly be about. I intend to go back very soon and continue my search... but what I am searching for, I still dont know.
The "Bow Cuts"
This was a feature that I noticed regularly. In many of the rocks with this feature, it was hard to spot... but when you have over 3,000 megaliths to look at, you quickly find some good examples. Here is what I am talking about:
The purpose of this is not clear... this is clearly a feature that has been erroded heavily by weather, but there is no denying its presence:
Even on the cover of the little leaflet you can spot them...
These are just a few examples... and I have no idea what to make of them.
Strangly enough, they all seem to slope at the same angle, which could suggest that they were used to hold something at an angle. If you could imagine two of these megaliths side by side, then perhaps they could have had some kind of wooden plank joining them.
Also keep in mind that they have been weathered, so their purpose will not be as clear as it would have been back in the day.
The Box-Cut
This one sold it for me... spotting this was not just a stroke of luck, but meant to be...
... I personally view this a a very important part of a very big puzzle. The best way I can explain it is with lego: pieces are made to fit together without the use of glue or cement... they support themselves. Basically, I view this as giant lego block; a technique which many stoneage people have used. The best example I can give is:
Not many people can spot it, but that is how a lot of neolithic people made such solid constructions without the use of cement.
My Theory
Now, I am sure most of you are aware that most historic sites are usually built on even older ones. Something I noticed in Carnac was that many of the stone-houses had clearly used some of the stones for their own construction... but history is filled with this kind if thing.
My theory is simple: Perhaps these stones that were aligned by the neolithic people were taken from a much older construction. When it comes to dating these sites, nothing is certain for the simple reason that you cannot carbon-date rocks, but rather any organic matter around them. Generally, Carnac has been dated to be 6000 to 7000 years old. But the rocks themselves look to be extremely weathered... almost too weathered for their age.
Even Stonehenge was once located in Wales, but was dismantled and moved to Wiltshire (I don't blame them, the Welsh are weird... and I will include an article about that below), so it was not uncommon for these sites to relocated. But it just makes you wonder: How much older could this site possibly be?
Well... I have no idea! I just know that some of the megaliths had some interesting features which suggest they could have been used for something more than they are now. Like a temple of something.
As you can see, some of these angles are simply unusual... why would you need to make these shapes?
Anyway, I will post a video soon, to give you guys a better idea of what I saw.
Would love to know what you guys think. Have a good weekend.