The Carnac Stones

archaeology · prehistoric · France · mystery

Rows of stones. The Carnac stones are arranged in long, impressive lines made of more than 3,000 standing rocks, all carved from granite and put in place by prehistoric people. They form the largest collection of aligned stones like this anywhere in the world.

Ancient Breton builders. People living in Brittany, in northwestern France, created these megaliths during the Neolithic period, probably starting around 3300 BC, though some stones may be even older going back to 4500 BC. Nobody alive today knows exactly why they built them that way.

Hewn from local rock. Each stone was carefully shaped from granite found nearby in Brittany and then stood upright by hand. Creating and moving thousands of heavy stones took incredible effort and planning.

Spread across the coast. Most of the stones cluster near the town of Carnac, but they also appear in nearby areas like Locmariaquer and Arzon, and even on islands in the Gulf of Morbihan. The whole region is filled with these mysterious megaliths.

Still a puzzle. Archaeologists study the Carnac stones to understand what the ancient people who built them believed and valued. The exact purpose remains one of history's greatest unsolved mysteries.