The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense assortment of megalithic websites across the French village of Carnac, in Brittany, consisting of greater than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones and erected by the pre-Celtic individuals of Brittany. These megalithic wonders are the biggest such assortment on the planet, nonetheless their function has by no means been found.

A Patterned Panorama

The Carnac Stones include each single standing stones (menhirs) and multi-stone clusters (dolmens) organized in rows and patterns throughout the panorama. The primary group of stone alignments entails 12 converging rows of standing stones stretching greater than a kilometer with the stays of a stone circle at both finish. The most important stones, round 4m excessive, are on the western finish and so they grow to be smaller alongside the size of the alignment reaching round 0.6m in peak.

It’s thought that the stones have been erected throughout the Neolithic interval which lasted from 4500 BC till 2000 BC. In actuality, archaeologists have had nice problem in establishing correct dates as little materials was discovered beneath them that might be used for radiocarbon courting.

The Objective of the Carnac Stones

Native fantasy states {that a} Roman legion was on the march when the wizard Merlin turned them into stone. Archaeologically talking, the unique function of the Carnac stones stays a thriller, and there are a lot of theories however no definitive solutions.

Some archaeologists imagine that the stones served a ritual or non secular function, probably as a part of a burial website, or a website for fertility rites. Others recommend that the stones have been used for marking property boundaries, detecting earthquakes, honoring ancestors, commemorating vital occasions within the lives of the pre-Celtic individuals who erected them, or just an emblem of the facility and status of the individuals who constructed them.

The Carnac stones have been organized in rows. Supply: Karl Allen Lugmayer / Adobe Inventory

Astronomical Statement

One of the crucial in style theories, is that the Carnac stones functioned as an historical astronomical observatory. The stone formations could have acted as calendars, in order that historical farmers knew the seasons and when to plant and harvest their crops and the clergymen may foretell phenomena equivalent to eclipses of the solar and moon. 

A number of the Carnac stones are aligned with the solar and the moon. Essentially the most well-known of those alignments is the “Grand Menhir Brisé,” a damaged menhir that stands over 20 toes tall and is believed to be the biggest standing stone ever erected by people. The Grand Menhir Brisé was aligned with the setting solar throughout the winter solstice, which means that it could have been used to mark the altering seasons.

Grand Menhir Brisé, the biggest stone at Carnac. Supply: shorty25 / Adobe Inventory

Different stones within the Carnac complicated are aligned with the moon and stars, indicating that the pre-Celtic individuals who constructed them could have had a classy understanding of astronomy. Nevertheless, as a result of the pre-Celtic individuals who constructed the Carnac stones left no written data, the true function of those exceptional megaliths stays a topic of ongoing analysis and hypothesis.

High picture: The Carnac Stones, Brittany, France. Supply: guitou60 / Adobe Inventory

By Joanna Gillan