Carnac, France and the Megaliths

Carnac megaliths in field

Carnac shoreline

Carnac is on the south coast of Brittany in France. I would have probably liked to go visit the sleepy-looking coastal town just for that reason alone, but it was the town’s megalithic stones that really grabbed our attention. The enormous stones have been standing there for thousands of years. Who knows why they were moved, no small task, and lined up in rows on a field?

All the little stones lined up in a row…

Of course, it’s fun to puzzle over. From taking a look, it’s obvious to see they were arranged in certain ways for some kind of reason- straight lines, and a certain amount of stones set together in groups in those lines. They seemed to me like obscenely large grave markers. Or maybe they followed some sort of astrological significance, some kind of primitive calendar or map of the stars. But would you really need stones so gigantic for that? I can’t imagine how many men or crude devices it would take to move just one of them. Maybe the town legend has it right, that Merlin turned the Roman legion to stones, and that’s why they stand there so straight.

Why are they here?

I love to imagine what people hundreds of years ago thought as they built their houses up around these massive rows of rock.

houses built around rows of megaliths

so pretty!

In a clever management technique, native sheep are rotated through the fields to keep the grasses short, sure beats mowing.

Carnac’s grazing sheep

this program helps re-populate the native sheep

“Not knowing” is what makes Carnac so appealing to see… enjoying the mystery of it all, walking by houses, staring at giant fields of rocks. An interesting day. Maybe next time I’ll go in season- so I can enjoy the sun and the seashore, too!