About forty small menhirs located near the famous alignments of Carnac (Morbihan, western France) were recently destroyed to allow the construction of a store, causing misunderstanding among heritage defenders.
The alert was given on Friday June 2 by an amateur archaeologist in a blog post revealed by the regional daily Ouest-France. He deplored the destruction of 39 small menhirs, the size of which, for the most part, was between 50 cm and one meter. In question, the construction work of a Mr. Bricolage store, authorized by a building permit issued on August 26, 2022 by the town hall of Carnac after having been refused for the first time seven years earlier.
The land was then the subject of excavations by the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap), which ended ” on a contradictory statement “. ” Only additional observations on the monoliths, or even an excavation, would make it possible to certify the Neolithic origin of this set. “, details the organization in its report published in April 2015.
But for the archaeologist who reported this destruction, the problem is that he ” there have been no archaeological excavations to know if the stelae were indeed menhirs or not “. “ The site is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage listing project, which normally requires them to notify the Architect of French buildings and the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Drac) before launching the project. “, he told AFP.
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For his part, the mayor of Carnac attests to having ” fully complied with the law » and invokes « low archaeological value » objects found during preventive excavations. ” This site was not located in an area of compulsory archaeological prescription in the local urban plan “, did he declare.
Following this destruction, an association for the defense of heritage, Koun Breizh (“Breton memory”, in Breton), filed a complaint against X, in order to shed light on the decision-making process that led to this destruction. The association Paysages des Mégalithes de Carnac et du sud Bretagne, which brings together 27 towns in Morbihan, intends to register the vast group of menhirs in the south of the department as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. She wants to submit the file by the end of the year to the government.
(With AFP)