Orientations of Neolithic Monuments of Brittany: (1) Context

Hoskin Michael , “Studies in Iberian archaeoastronomy, (9): An overview”, Archaeoastronomy, no. 27 (2002), S75–82.

Hoskin Michael , Tombs, temples and their orientations: A new perspective on Mediterranean prehistory (Bognor Regis, 2001).

Hoskin Michael and Higginbottom Gail , “Orientations of dolmens of west-central France”, Archaeoastronomy, no. 27 (2002), S51–61.

For the visitor the basic purchase is La Bretagne des mégalithes by Pierre-Roland Giot (Rennes, 1997), a masterpiece in the use of colour-coding and other devices to condense a vast amount of information into a limited space. Giot does not attempt completeness in Carnac and the surrounding area, and here Le guide des mégalithes du Morbiham by Gabriel Le Cam (Spézet, 1999) is invaluable. For the interior of this same region, Gouezin Philippe , Les mégalithes du Morbihan intérieur (Rennes, n.d.) has a detailed study of the monuments. Aubrey Burl's Megalithic Brittany (London, 1985), though dealing with only a fraction of the monuments covered by Giot, remains the only guide that tells the reader how to reach each site. The 1:25000 maps of the Institut Géographique National are invaluable as they show the location of many monuments.

Hoskin and Higginbottom , op. cit. (ref. 3).

See for example Soulier Philippe , (ed.), La France des dolmens et des sépultures collectives (Paris, 1998), 115–28.

A convenient summary of these exciting discoveries is in Charles-Tanguy Le Roux's contribution on Brittany in Soulier's La France des dolmens , 57–66. See also Les mégalithes du Morbihan by André Florence (Châteaulin, 1995), 82.

Thom A. and Thom A. S. , “The astronomical significance of the large Carnac menhirs”, Journal for the history of astronomy, ii (1971), 147–60, Fig. 2.

For example, in Thom A. Thom A. C. and Gorrie J. M. , “The two megalithic observatories at Carnac”, Journal for the history of astronomy, vii (1976), 11–26, p. 21.

“Archaeological discoveries in recent years have, however, led one to suspect the Neolithic people themselves”, Le Roux Charles-Tanguy , Carnac, Locmariaquer and Gavrinis (Rennes, 2001), 18.

Bougis Francis , À propos du Grand Menhir Brisé de Locmariaquer, privately published in typescript, n.d. I am very grateful to Chris Scarre for lending me a copy of this inaccessible work. Dr Scarre wonders if it was the natural collapse of the Grand Menhir that triggered the wave of iconoclasm.

See Le Roux , op. cit. (ref. 10), 18.

For example, by Giot P.-R. , Préhistoire en Bretagne (Châteaulin, 1998), 25.

Le Roux Charles-Tanguy , Gavrinis (Rennes, 1995). Some 29 orthostats were used in the construction of the passage and chamber, and of these 23 are engraved, most of them over every available space, so that Gavrinis is one of the treasures of prehistoric art. This strongly suggests that the building had a special purpose, perhaps as a mausoleum for a person of outstanding importance.

Most of the passages have been bricked up, presumably for safety reasons. The orientations of graves B, C and D are all close to 133°.

Approximately 101°, 111° and 110°.

According to Burl (Megalithic Brittany (ref. 4), 19): Er-Grah, Kerlud, Le Moustoir, Saint-Michel, Mané-Lud, Mané-er-Hroëck, and Tumiac.

Giot , op. cit. (ref. 4), 8.

Thom A. and Thom A. S. , op. cit. (ref. 8).

Le Roux , Carnac, Locmariaquer and Gavrinis (ref. 10), 30, gives a chronology which we follow here.

Burl , Megalithic Brittany (ref. 4), 133.

Gouezin , op. cit. (ref. 4), 41–42.