The Carnac Alignments: Neolithic Genius, or Serious, Stone-Age OCD?

Brittany’s Rock Gods

Standing Stones at Carnac. All photos by Tim Ward except as noted.

It’s a truly splendiferous place, the northwestern coast of Brittany, France, for it is one of the most dense areas of prehistoric monuments in the world…

“Hey!” my beloved spouse Teresa interrupts, “What about Brittany’s white-sand beaches, the crystal-blue waters, the quaint Celtic fishing villages, the fresh oysters?”

Teresa Objects: “Oysters, and white-sand beaches!”

“Okay, okay, Teresa, all that is also true — but I insist on ranting about Brittany’s marvellous megaliths one final time...”

The landscape is literally littered with them: over 1,000 dolmens (stacked-stone passage-tombs) and some 6,000 menhirs (standing stones) dating from about 4,800–3,000 BC. Lord knows how many thousands more have disappeared through the ages — pillaged for building houses, churches, and walls.

The Carnac Alignments: just another Neolithic roadside attraction. Someone built a house in the middle of them all.

In all of Brittany there’s no single site so dense, so intense, as Carnac. The “Carnac Alignments” consist of around three thousand…