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Fury in France after 40 ancient standing stones erected by prehistoric humans 7,000 years ago near famed Carnac archaeological site are destroyed to make way for a DIY storeBy CHRISTIAN OLIVER
PUBLISHED: 08:28 EDT, 8 June 2023 | UPDATED: 08:32 EDT, 8 June 2023
Fury has erupted in France after dozens of seven-thousand-year-old standing stones erected by prehistoric humans were destroyed to make way for a DIY store.
Some 37 stones standing between half-a-metre and a metre were each destroyed by the development of the large construction for a Mr. Bricolage outlet in Carnac, in Brittany, northwest France.
According to local amateur archaeologist Christian Obeltz, the site had been on France's National Archeological map since 2015, as well as being on the town's official list of local megaliths.
They say the site was also going to be submitted to France's Ministry of Culture with a view to listing it as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Carnac is famous for its ancient menhir - heavy raised standing stones - which spread across three alignments: Ménec, Kermario and Kerlescan.
More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12173517/Fury-France-40-ancient-standing-stones-destroyed-make-way-DIY-store.html
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The mystery of France's 'Stonehenge'
https://ychef.files.bbci.co.uk/1600x900/p0d0clf2.webp
By Hugh Tucker
15th September 2022
Built 1,000 years before the famed English site, the Alignements de Carnac's 3,000 perfectly aligned stones continue to baffle historians.
Not far from the wide, sun-drenched beaches of Carnac in France's north-western Brittany region, I stood and looked out at the endless rows of standing stones that make up the Alignements de Carnac (Carnac Alignments). The tall, roughly hewn stones were divided into symmetrical, evenly spaced columns that disappeared into the distance, and I could see how the local legend of Saint Cornély had arisen.
Supposedly, Saint Cornély (the patron saint of cattle), pursued by a legion of Roman soldiers and finding no other means of escape, had hidden in the ear of an ox and turned the legionnaires to stone. Needless to say, this isn't the true origin of the Alignments. Aside from the unlikely transfiguration, the standing stones predate the Roman Empire by at least 3,000 years. But in a superstitious time, this was probably a plausible explanation for a mystery that baffles experts to this day.
Stretching 4km along the coast of Brittany and consisting of more than 3,000 menhirs (man-made, often tapered, stones erected in prehistoric times across Western Europe not unlike those Obelix from the Asterix comics made a career sculpting and delivering), the Carnac Alignments represent the largest group of man-made standing stones in the world. Like Stonehenge, their purpose, what they represent and who placed them are mysteries shrouded in theory and legend. Yet, their place as one of the most important sites of European prehistory is undisputed.
Radiocarbon dating has determined that the granite menhirs were erected by a Neolithic community around 6,000 years ago (about 1,000 years before Stonehenge). The stones range in size from 0.5m tall to the hulking Giant of Manio, which soars 6m, with an average-sized menhir weighing between five and 10 tonnes. They were generally quarried from the bedrock that lies close to the surface of the site and hauled and erected using pulleys and brute strength. Given the superhuman effort needed to create them, the Alignments would have held enormous significance, but the site's administrator, Olivier Agogué, believes that true purpose of the Alignments will likely remain unknown.
More:
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220914-carnac-alignments-brittanys-mysterious-standing-stones
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28 april 2021 france
10 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE CARNAC STANDING STONES
Most people have pondered the mysterious stones of Stonehenge, but the Carnac standing stones in Brittany, France, may be even more fascinating. This UNESCO World Heritage site is comprised of thousands of granite stones perfectly aligned over several kilometres, making it the largest megalithic site in the world. If you havent had a chance to visit yet, you should be adding this site to your bucket list and taking advantage of the online virtual tour.
More:
http://www.bisousdescaribous.com/2021/04/10-interesting-facts-about-carnac.html
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Unbelievable!
UpInArms
(51,813 posts)I hope that the spirits of the past destroy the peace of all those who had a hand in destroying this.
Rebl2
(14,760 posts)Tetrachloride
(8,453 posts)or they dont.
Richard D
(9,368 posts)A fine or any punishment could never make up for that.
Wicked Blue
(6,663 posts)I hope the spirits of the ancestral builders zap the people who did this.
GPV
(73,054 posts)Karadeniz
(23,428 posts)wnylib
(24,454 posts)I'd get vengeance by organizing protests and a boycott of the new store until it goes out of business.
Might direct some of that at the contractors, too.
3825-87867
(1,108 posts)It almost looks as though they are laid out in some binary(?) code!
6000 year old Extra Terrestrial Visitors leaving a card for our future thoughts?
speak easy
(10,533 posts)that has taken all this time to be filled
erronis
(16,896 posts)They just used stones instead of hanging chads.
mwooldri
(10,401 posts)I believe it reads...
"We've been trying to reach you about your spaceship's extended warranty".
erronis
(16,896 posts)Only we can't read it - yet. Give us another 2.71828 cosmic burps...
mwooldri
(10,401 posts)PatrickforB
(15,113 posts)If it is corporate owned we could do letter writing campaigns and boycott. I know I enjoy calling up corporate offices and discussing things like price gouging...Why not call up a company that is so greed-centered that they do something like this just for PROFITS?
TheRickles
(2,420 posts)LymphocyteLover
(6,802 posts)Evolve Dammit
(18,684 posts)erronis
(16,896 posts)Perhaps capitalism has some merit - using tokens to trade instead of actual goods.
But Capitalists want to hoard these tokens. And they can never have enough or care about those that need a few.
Makes me think about how I used to play "Crazy-8s". I'd amass all the "8"s and then would generally win the game. Of course, my playmates were in their early years and I was perhaps 12.
Evolve Dammit
(18,684 posts)Wild blueberry
(7,196 posts)70sEraVet
(4,152 posts)This criminal act robbed all of mankind of a great piece of its history.
I dont doubt that France will issue a harsh punishment, but many governments are uncaring, if not complicit, in such destruction of important historical sights.
Marthe48
(19,061 posts)Why can't existing developed property be reused? Updated? Repurposed? With the Internet at hand, who even shops in brick and mortar stores? The stones lasted a lot longer than some hyped-up junk shop will.
SleeplessinSoCal
(9,679 posts)From images there appears to be many more than 37. Can there not be an urgent cease and desist?
Question: Who would want to shop for knickknacks there after this?
druidity33
(6,560 posts)that encompass several square kilometers. It's more like a galaxy of stones than a constellation of them. It also looks as if these dozens were a smaller "out of the way" grouping. The developer may or may not have known what they were doing when they removed them. I can see how it could have happened accidentally, though it's sad regardless. There's enough documentation that they could be replaced (sort of)... if they can be found.
Edited to add from article in OP:
"'The Chemin de Montauban site included two intersecting rows of small granite stelae, each spreading out over fifty meters in length. One had been exactly in its original place for 7,000 years,' Obeltz wrote in a blog post.
'The small menhirs of the Chemin de Montauban were undoubtedly one of the oldest sets of stelae in the town of Carnac' believed to date between 5480 and 5320 BC, 'the highest dating obtained for a menhir in the west of France'."
SleeplessinSoCal
(9,679 posts)Possibility...
"7,000-Year-Old Man Had Dark Skin And Blue Eyes; DNA From La Braña 1 Taken From Ancient Tooth"
https://www.ibtimes.com/7000-year-old-man-had-dark-skin-blue-eyes-dna-la-brana-1-taken-ancient-tooth-photo-1548617
druidity33
(6,560 posts)SleeplessinSoCal
(9,679 posts)I find the evolution part fascinating.
LudwigPastorius
(10,851 posts)"What is...a disgusting crime of cultural robbery by evil greedheads."