![\"14-04-29](\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/14-04-29-BLOG-Carnac.jpg\")
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The quadri\u00adlat\u00ader\u00adal struc\u00adture and the giant are buried deep in for\u00adest, reached by a maze of foot\u00adpaths so com\u00adpli\u00adcat\u00aded that I got lost try\u00ading to return, and emerged on the wrong road, forc\u00ading my host to wait patient\u00adly while I hitch\u00adhiked the long way around. The major align\u00adments end with a mas\u00adsive dol\u00admen, but apart from this one, struc\u00adtures that look funer\u00adary are dis\u00adtrib\u00aduted in a rough cir\u00adcu\u00adlar pat\u00adtern at some dis\u00adtance from the align\u00adments. Soli\u00adtary men\u00adhirs seem to be scat\u00adtered randomly.<\/p>\n
The whole expe\u00adri\u00adence is com\u00adplete\u00adly unlike vis\u00adit\u00ading mega\u00adlith\u00adic sites in Britain, which are usu\u00adal\u00adly in open coun\u00adtry. There\u2019s noth\u00ading in the U.K. that resem\u00adbles these vast grid\u00adiron arrange\u00adments of stones. They defy inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion by intu\u00adition. With cir\u00adcu\u00adlar struc\u00adtures you can eas\u00adi\u00adly imag\u00adine some kind of func\u00adtion. Many human activ\u00adi\u00adties draw us into cir\u00adcles . . . danc\u00ading, prayer, pol\u00adi\u00adtics, trade, feast\u00ading, dra\u00adma. The\u00ado\u00adries are con\u00adcoct\u00aded from many pos\u00adsi\u00adble choic\u00ades. But what in hell do you do in a huge grid of par\u00adal\u00adlel stones? Play tag? And what is best done with feats of engi\u00adneer\u00ading and con\u00adstruc\u00adtion that would be ambi\u00adtious even for a mod\u00adern farm\u00ading com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty? Where the men\u00adhirs seclud\u00aded in for\u00adest when they were first built? Did farm\u00aders let their cows graze among the stones, as they did until very recent\u00adly? The com\u00adpound\u00aded mys\u00adter\u00adies leave the vis\u00adi\u00adtor with\u00adout much to say.<\/p>\n
My read\u00ading in this area has been woe\u00adful\u00adly inad\u00ade\u00adquate. I\u2019ve read shelf-fulls of books and truck\u00adloads of papers on British pre\u00adhis\u00adto\u00adry, but prac\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly noth\u00ading on Brit\u00adtany or France, and this fail\u00adure must be cor\u00adrect\u00aded as soon as I get home. I had na\u00efve\u00adly assumed that what I knew of British pre\u00adhis\u00adto\u00adry could be repro\u00adduced in gen\u00ader\u00adal prin\u00adci\u00adples on the Con\u00adti\u00adnent. Not so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the morn\u00ading, M. Durassier took me on a tour of the major mega\u00adlith\u00adic align\u00adments at Carnac, near the coast. There are four large groups \u2014 from west to east, M\u00e9nec, K\u00e9rabus, Ker\u00admario and Ker\u00adles\u00adcan. In between Ker\u00admario and Ker\u00adles\u00adcan there is \u2026<\/p>\n