Long Stones

 

Today I take you to the menhirs of Brittany. "maen-hir" literally means "long stone" and refers to the large upright stones from the late Neolithic and (early) Bronze Age in Europe (c. 2800-1800 BC). However, recent research in Brittany suggests a far older origin. So much is still unknown about these long stones.

Brittany has the highest number of menhirs, about 50,000 examples. Yes, you read that right, fifty thousand. Some of them just stand nonchalantly by the side of the road like this one, Menhir de Lannoulouarn.

It looks small from the distance, but when you actually stand next to it, it looks so much taller. Kaefer is 163 cm (5'3") tall, but the menhir is thrice her size.

Like most of these ancient monoliths it was covered with lichen and there was a White-lipped snail clinging to it. I'm always surprised how these small creatures get to these places. Endurance I guess.

Here the menhir plays the fourth part in this family photo.

Some menhirs are a bit further away from those narrow country roads and require a short walk through the countryside.

What a lovely opportunity to look at the wildflowers in the autumn landscape. Red Campion (Silene Dioica) is such a beautiful blotch of color.

 The bees were still busy on the Common Hogweed (Heracleum Sphondylium).

You can already see the menhir.

Getting closer...

And here it is, the Menhir de Kerloas.

The Menhir de Kerloas was erected at this spot over 4000 years ago. With a height of 9.50 meters (c. 31 ft.) it is the tallest of any stone still standing. It has a circumference of 6.20 meters (c. 20.5 ft.)  and an estimated mass between 100 and 150 metric tons (100,000 and 150,000 kg; 220,462 and 330,693 lbs.). It had to be transported from the nearest quarry 3 km (1.8 miles) away. How did the people do it? The simple and very unsatisfactory answer is - we don't know.

It is also still a mystery what these menhirs were for. They were definitely cut to last and must have had a very specific symbolism. But which one?

Kaefer next to it, just for proportion.

The last menhirs I'm showing you today are the Menhirs de Kerfland which is actually a megalithic alignment. They are aligned almost perfectly along a north-northwest/south-southeast axis. They remind me of a group of old men.

Even though these menhirs were smaller than the other two in my post, they were still quite impressive.

The faces are for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

On a different note. We're having very typical Northern California weather right now. Last weekend was supposed to be the first warm weekend; instead it was chilly and miserable. Then we had two really warm days with temperatures in the 80s; now we're back to the upper 50s and "light rain" which turned out to be quite heavy. So I turned the chilly into Chili con carne which was delicious and accompanied by a very good Malbec from a local winery. Cheers!

Remains of Ancient Times

Brittany is home to the largest collection of prehistoric stone structures in the world. There are so many dolmens, tumulus and menhirs, most of them from the Neolithic period (around 5000 - 3000 BCE), that you can hardly see them all in just two weeks. I'll start with our first visit to a megalith structure, Allée couverte de Ty Lia or Île Grande (covered alley of Île Grande). I personally would describe this as a tumulus which refers to an artificial elevation often covering a burial site.

This site was located just off the narrow country road with just a short gravel strip for parking. While these sites are all marked in maps and have signs, they are not particularly established as an attraction site - probably there are so many of them. There is one spectacular exception, but I will get to that in a later post.

It is called covered alley because it actually has an "alley" that is covered by a megalith and you can crawl in there.

It is interesting to look at the inside of it. These are huge stones and you really wonder how the people managed to move them. Often these stones come from places further away. There is still a lot of mystery surrounding these stone structures, and I wonder whether we will ever know everything about them and the people who lived at that time. I only know that our modern buildings will not stand the ravages of time like these megaliths have done.

Seeing Kaefer here points out the size of the tumulus.

Of course the most famous megalith is Stonehenge in England. This one was way way smaller, but still very impressive.

The lichen on the rock tells its own fascinating story.

I particularly liked this seasnail on top of it; I think it might be a limpet.

This was just a first taste of these fascinating megaliths. There will be more to come in future posts.

Now I need a drink for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday. Yesterday we went wine tasting (with food pairing) with our good friends Bim and Patti - we love to spend time with them, they are our dearest friends and very close to our heart. We always have interesting conversations, but we also laugh a lot together. It's exactly the right mix. No surprise that yesterday's afternoon turned into the most pleasant hours we had that weekend.