Top 8 Ancient Ruins in Finistere, Brittany

Reviewed By jansW1801IX

The cairn actually belongs to the top five of oldest man-made structures in the world and it is very little known. It is far more than just an old man-made pile of rocks. A cairn with built-in dolmens and corbelled vaults, the earliest type of vaults, 11 corridors and associated chambers. The largest Neolithic structure in Europe. It was almost destroyed as a stone quarry in 1954. The quarry left a scar that now provides a view of its internal features. 2500 years older than Stonehenge and 2000 years older than the pyramids with far less visitors. The view over the Bay of Morlaix is great. That's part of the reason the cairn is where it is. An imposing and dominating position. My advise is to read-up before you go there as you will know what you are looking at. Its internal rock carvings were even painted. What rocks were used and where they come form. What was done to build this structure and why it lasted for more than 6000 years. If you go there without preps it will be indeed be just a pile of rocks and it may disappoint you just as it did for others commenting on this site. Blame it on ignorance. Ever visited Stonehenge with hundreds of other shuffling along? That's disappointing, but people accept that because they know about Stonehenge, You will not have the people problem in Barnenez. Very few know about Barnenez and what it stands for but if you do you will look very differently at this old pile of rocks. It is clear that the builders had a good understanding of the characteristic of the natural rocks available in the area. They chose their material wisely, minimizing work and maximizing what could be achieved with limited means. No need to invoke dark fairies or dwarfs, the infamous Breton korrigans, as old local tradition tells us. Excavation revealed that the strcuture consistst of actually two connected cairns have a complex history, with parts of earlier structure(?s) dismantled and re-used to build the current structures. Internal features (not accessible in chamber H) include carved symbols, ax-shapes, bow-shapes, zig-zag-shapes, U-(bullshead) shapes, with the most famous a kind of head with radiating spiky hair, ‘forme d’écusson’, dubbed the “Dolmen Goddess” - although there is no indication at all of anything female. What would it take to build this thing? One cubic meter of the Barnénez cairn contains some 1,500 kg of stone. It is estimated that the collection, transport and construction of such an amount represents about four work days for a single worker (a 10-hour day). With a volume of about 2000-2500 m3 (3000-4000 tonnes) the first cairn is built of some 750 tons of granite and 2250 tons of local dolerite. That would take 8000 days to build for one person, or some three months for a group of 100 persons. The combined cairn is about 2 ½ - 3 times bigger and with much more granite used in the extension, would have required a massive investment and organization of people and time. Impressive to think that was achieved some 6000-7000 years ago. What would it have been used for? There is a lot written, but the simple fact is that we don’t know too much. It has been termed the oldest mausoleum of the world but we don’t know whether it was used solely for the dead. Reports of remains of scorched or charred human bones indicate a connection with the dead is likely. The acidity of the soil would not have left many bones which could explain the absence of more remains. It is a massive monumental structure that has taken a lot of effort to build and is located in a dominating position. That implies it has had an important function. That’s why the connection with the dead, gods and perhaps even fertility becomes a plausible one. After all, these are the things that have kept us humans puzzled and mystified ever since we started thinking about them. For those who like mystery, just stick with a dwelling for korrigans….. Why there? There were originally two separate cairns on the headland. Only the southern one, the largest, survived the quarrying-at least for a large part- when it was stopped in 1954. The northern cairn by then had completely disappeared. The guidebook of the cairn states that some 6000-7000 years ago the Bay of Morlaix was largely dry, providing good soil for early agriculture. The bay in this view was grassland with a river running through it. It is questionable whether this interpretation is valid. Inspection of the Holocene sea level curve tells us that sea level has hardly changed in that period and the peninsula therefore may have looked very much the same as it does now. We should not forget that the shallow rocks and extensive tidal flats would have provided plenty of seafood to the Neolithic people who built the cairn and one does not necessarily need to invoke extensive early agriculture as a reason for people to settle. So: A great pile of rocks with a long history to dream about for sure, but you should take a nice sunny day with few visitors to get a feel for its age -and stay- in this mood. Nice and sunny means people, whereas quiet and peaceful means wind and rain, a bit disruptive for contemplation. There are those rare days in autumn, winter and early spring that just fit the equation. Have fun and know what you are looking at.